We Don't Need Another HERO
by happydemonhobo
Summary: Complete:AU:Doors are opening and opportunities are presented, but is losing everything worth fulfilling one dream. Set two years after Operation H E R O. Kurama&Hiei.Yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own them, the Yu Yu Hakusho gang that is. I make no money.

Author's note: If you have found this, than thank you, but if you have not read **Operation H.E.R.O**, you really need to read it first or you may not understand a lot of this. Again, this is an alternate universe kind of story.

Summary: Doors are opening and opportunities are presented, but is losing everything worth fulfilling one dream. Set two years after Operation H E R O. Kurama & Hiei. Yaoi. Co-written with BoWeavill.

Rated: **M **(for language, lemons and again, really bad jokes)

**We Don't Need Another HERO**

Chapter 1

"You can still change your mind."

"It's already been made and you know the reasons why."

"I'll visit on weekends, when I can and of course on holidays."

Green eyes looked down and gave a slight nod in understanding.

"Tell Shori that I hope she feels better and give her my regards."

This time he couldn't see the green eyes, but again saw the slight nod of the head. He had thought about stopping by and telling her good bye, but how could he face her. Especially after he had just assumed …..never mind, it didn't matter now.

"I guess I should get going." The blacked haired said, walking over to the dinning room table to get his things. Shouldering his pack, red eyes looked over one last time at the man sitting on the bed before he headed to the door of the red head's loft.

"Hiei." Kurama paused then looked up to make sure he'd stop. He had, with his hand on the knob. "Take care of yourself."

"I will." Hiei said and walked out the door. Closing the door behind him, the black haired paused and looked at it, lost in thought. He could still walk back in and beg the red head to come along, there was still time to walk in and say fine 'you win', but this chance was a dream come true. A dream that had been practically placed in his lap and he wanted it with all his being. He hadn't been doing all those things for nothing, he had worked hard to get where he's at. Brushing fingers lightly across the door, the once EMT whispered. "You take care of yourself as well." Before turning and walking away.

Back inside the loft, Kurama fell back on the bed with a heavy sigh. 'Two years…two years they'd been together.' Green eyes watered, but he refused to cry. At least Hiei wasn't dead, he had walked out on his own two feet and they had separated with both of their consent. So what was the point of crying? The red head rolled to his side, looking out over the piers and the tears that had been pooling gave way to gravity as he lay there, staring until the sun set.

_**(2 months earlier)**_

"Find your backboard Hiei?" Koto called out as she saw the short black haired EMT heading towards the door.

"Yeah." He called back.

"There you are." His partner EMT Kazuma Kuwabara said as he tossed his coffee cup in the trashcan next to the door.

"Found it." Hiei Jaganshi said in reply, holding up a short yellow board.

"Where was it this time?" The much taller orange haired said, heading out the double sliding doors.

"Trust me, you don't want to know, but remind me when we get back to the station to hit it with the 'steam jenny'. That's the only way I think it could ever get clean." Hiei grumbled, placing the board in the back of the Rescue Squad truck.

That was when Kuwabara noticed his partner wearing a latex glove on his right hand. Deciding not to ask, he got in the truck. As they pulled out of the Emergency Room exit of the hospital, their squad radio static to life.

"Squad 51, what is your ETA back to station?" A female voiced called out.

Both went to reach for the handle and only after a Three Stooges moment of hand slapping and fumbling did Hiei manage to grab it. He gave a smirk in triumph and got a tongue stuck out at him in return. While looking at his watch, he said into the mike. "ETA, 10 minutes."

"Noted Hiei, I'll inform Captain Urameshi."

"There goes my rib sandwich." Kuwabara said with sadness in his voice.

"Sorry, you should have said something." Hiei said.

"If you'd let me get the radio, I would have said 15."

"Well, look at it this way, you'll live another day to enjoy it."

a)a)a)a

Back at Fire Station 51, the gang was all out in the bay area as the Rescue Squad truck pulled in.

Getting out of the truck, the two looked at their fellow comrades. "What's up Chu?" Kuwabara asked.

"Nos ideas mate. Cap tolds us to waits outs heres." The blue Mohawk, pony tailed Aussie said.

Hiei looked over at the blonde haired Mitarai. The young man had come along way these past 10 months. After deciding to become an EMT, he finally looked confidant enough to pass the exams coming up in about a week.

Mitarai just shrugged, putting off any question being asked of him.

The door to the office opened and out stepped their captain, Yusuke Urameshi. His raven black hair was gelled back as usual, but his usually bright chocolate eyes were narrowed in thought as he made his way over to them.

"Hey guys….just wanted to let you know…in light of the testing coming up for firefighters, EMT and such, and the high number of those who are predicted to pass." Yusuke paused and gave a nod to Mitarai. "And with Fire Chief Raizen retiring soon." He continued. "Brass has decided to up promotions, word's coming down."

"What's that gotta dos with us Cap?" Chu asked.

"Yeah, I don't think any of us put in for one." Kuwabara added.

"The old man has put my name in for the position of Fire Chief and they're looking to do some rotating of station personal." Seeing the looks on his men's faces, Yusuke said. "Hey, at least I told you. I'm not technically obligated to tell you all a damn thing, but…."

"We understand Captain and thanks." Hiei said, cutting off the awkward moment.

"I should call Keiko." Yusuke said and retreated back to his office.

"You think any of us are ready for a promotion and why would they want to split us up now?" Kuwabara asked when Yusuke was safely in his office.

"I only see Mitarai here being moved." Hiei said, red eyes looking to the young man. "I mean, you knew you were only assigned to us for training when you decided to move up to EMT."

"Sorrys mate, buts wes have our twos hot-shots." Chu said, feeling sorry. "Wez enjoys workin' with yeah."

"I understand guys, there's no reason to explain. It was my decision and it's what I want to do." Mitarai put his hands in his front pants pocket. "It's been a real honor to work with you guys and I've learned a lot, but we all have to move on at some point."

"That we do." Hiei said softly, all of a sudden having a bad feeling wash over him.

A gasp made Hiei turn to see Kuwabara white as a ghost. "What the hell's wrong with you?" He asked.

"Man, you remember that feeling I got about my truck. You know, when you doomed her with the trash truck."

"Yeah….so, took it long enough."

"Don't say any more." And with that, Kuwabara turned and walked off.

End Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews…… :) Be fore warned….I spilled a little lemon juice….

Chapter 2

At around midnight Hiei keyed into his beach house. Walking through the dark house to the kitchen, he turned on the light before opening the refrigerator and grabbing a drink.

Standing at the counter, he took big gulps of the cool liquid. He was exhausted, dirty and in desperate need of a shower. Finishing the fluid, he went to turn off the light, but paused as he heard noise coming from the bedroom. The bedroom door opened and out came a red headed man wearing nothing but pajama bottoms.

Letting out a yawn, Kurama shuffled into the kitchen like the walking dead. "You're home late." He mumbled.

"Sorry to wake you, we got called out about an hour before end of shift." Hiei said, tossing the bottle in the trash as the red head came over and gave him a hug from behind.

"That's okay. I'll sleep like a baby once you come to bed." Kurama said, kissing him on top of the head.

"Let me shower first." Hiei said, turning to give him a quick kiss on the lips before walking off.

Kurama watched as the smaller man walked towards the bathroom, stripping as he went. It wasn't until the bathroom door close that he turned off the light and made his way back to bed, picking up errant pieces of clothing as he went.

A few minutes later, the black haired slid between the sheets and the red head snuggled up against him.

"Ooh, you're still wet." Kurama complained.

"Sorry, I have to be at work at ten." Hiei whispered.

"I'll be gone way before then, there's another trip coming up." He heard Kurama mutter into his back.

Hiei hated to hear that. After Kurama had accepted a promotion last year, he was now required to travel. In the beginning, it was every other month or so and usually no more than three days at a time, but lately, he was traveling more and more.

"The keys are on the coun…" He started to say, but stopped when Kurama muttered.

"Okay."

About a month after the pair started staying together at the beach house, they stopped playing leap frog with the cars. Whoever left first took whichever car 'not' pinned in the short, one lane, drive way.

"I should be getting off at a reasonable time tonight, six or so, so I'll just head to your place." Hiei said.

Light snoring was his only response, as the red head was out.

Hiei laid there for a few minutes until sleep finally claimed him as well.

a)a)a)a

Hiei keyed into Kurama's loft a little before seven that evening to see the red head sitting at his desk.

Kurama got up to greet him, asking. "So how was your day?"

Sitting his pack on the table, he said. "Oh…you know, just the usual…car accident, man having a heart attack at a restaurant…..putting up with Kuwabara." He shrugged. "But Mitarai was glad I'd brought the Z, he really likes that car and says he'll take it off your hands when you're ready to part with it."

"I'm sure he would, but I'm afraid he's going to have to wait quite awhile." Kurama smiled.

"That's what I told him." Hiei smirked.

The black haired looked over to the desk, which Kurama had bought after his promotion because he found himself bringing his work home and was tired of having to clear off the dinning room table. There was a new large stack of folders and binders on it.

Seeing where the red eyes were looking, Kurama said softly. "Sorry, but I have a few things that need to get done before this trip."

"Have you had dinner yet?" Hiei asked.

"I don't even know what time it is." Kurama muttered, suddenly feeling exhausted as he looked at the kitchen clock.

"I'll whip something up. You finish and then we'll curl up and watch that movie I bought." Hiei offered, going over and washing his hands before digging into the cabinets. Kurama had finally broke a few months ago and bought a table top flat screen TV. It set on a small rolling cart next to the bed along with a DVD player. The two found themselves enjoying watching action movies as a way to make time together and relax.

"Sounds good, I hope not to be too long." Kurama said, going back to the desk.

Half an hour later and dinner was prepared. "That's enough, come eat." Hiei said.

The tired red head stopped, stood up and stretched. "Coming…just let me wash my hands."

The pair sat down to eat and after a few minutes, Hiei broke the silence. "Yukina's having a cookout on Sunday."

"You're off?" Kurama asked, picking at his food.

"Yeah, this weekend at least. I told you Monday." Hiei said. A little perturbed at the red head for not seeming to remember.

"Did you?" Greens eyes looked up to see red ones looking at him.

"So much for your memory." Hiei said, rolling his eyes. He had meant it as a joke, but Kurama didn't seem to take it that way.

"Excuse me, but I have a lot to do before this trip. I've got other stuff to think about besides remembering your….." He seemed to faultier in what he was going to say when he saw the red eyes going wide.

"No, you're right. My shifts are all over the place. You at least work 9 to 5 and have weekends off." Hiei knew that was no longer true. Kurama hadn't worked a 40 hour week since he was promoted, he was lucky if it was under 60.

"I have new responsibilities which require a lot more attention." Kurama stated firmly.

"I know you do, but I have to be available whenever people like you have a car accident, heart attack, or try to commit suicide because of all the stress you're under." Hiei said, just as firm.

Kurama sighed then smirked. "Touché." Knowing Hiei had a point. They had found themselves needing to vent sometimes as both enjoyed their jobs, just not the stress that came with it at times.

"So." Hiei smiled. The small battle of words over, for each was already forgiven, though no 'sorry(s)' were said, nor were they expected.

"Well, how bad can she mess up a cookout?" The red head wondered aloud. Having learned over the past year or so just how bad Hiei's twin sister Yukina's cooking can be.

"When she insists on doing the grilling and not letting Kuwabara help." Hiei smirked.

"Do you know what time?" Kurama asked, squirming some in his seat and rolling his shoulders.

"No, but it will probably be towards the evening." Hiei replied, looking up. "You okay?" He asked, noticing the movement.

"Just stiff from sitting at a desk all day…..and evening too, I suppose." Kurama said, the last part muttered, but then he continued. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner, but….the meeting's been scheduled for first thing Monday morning. We're supposed to fly out at eight Sunday night so I'll need to pack and get to the airport ….." He looked across the table to see red eyes look at him then down at the plate, the fork pausing. "Sorry." He muttered. "After this week, things should get back to normal for awhile. Maybe next weekend we can go away for a night." He suggested, trying to think of something they could do.

"I have to work the next two weekends. One will be a 12, 12, 8 shift." Hiei said, he'd already told the red head this as well.

Kurama pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing that meant 12 on 12 off, 12 on 12 off then 8 on and one day off, which would fall during the week. "Why do I feel sometimes like those two ships passing in the night?" He muttered.

"It'll get better soon." Hiei said. "We could stop by Yukina's earlier, maybe catch an early dinner and then I'll drive you to the airport."

"Maybe, but this is a big transaction, Mr. Takanaka's going to handle it personally so he's sending a limo because he's taking me with him on his personal plane. It's so we can work out any last minute details of the deal." Kurama said, lowering his eyes, still picking at his food.

"At least we'll have Saturday." Hiei said looking up to see green eyes downcast. With as much time as Kurama has been spending with his boss, he sometimes wondered if the read head's promotion hadn't been to 'personal assistant' and wondered if the man forgot to mention it, or was afraid to.

"I might have to go in for a few hours on Saturday. It'll all depend on what we get done tomorrow." Kurama said softly, still not looking up from his plate.

"How long?" Hiei said softly.

"The whole week, I'm afraid…..scheduled to fly back late Friday." Kurama sighed.

They ate the rest of their meal in silence.

When they finished, Hiei cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher while Kurama went back to work. The black haired ambled over to the bedroom area where he flopped onto to the bed and began reading, not wanting to disturb the red head as he got lost in his work.

After a couple of hours, he heard. "You should go ahead and watch the movie." He looked up from his book to see the red head looking over at him with a sorry, hurt, look in his tired, baggy, green eyes.

"I want to see it with you. I'm fine with the book." Hiei answered, holding up the book to show what he was reading. It was one he'd bought awhile back, but had not had the time to start. It was a story about a samurai named Musashi.

Hiei must have fallen asleep, for the next think he knew was waking to the bed bouncing. Looking over at his bed mate, he saw the red head squirming on his back before he seemed to huff then finally flopped to lie on his stomach, yet still couldn't seem to get comfortable. The black haired sighed, 'Kurama's back was bothering him again'. Ever since the red head had that car accident almost two years ago, bruising his tail bone, he experienced discomfort from time to time. Though Hiei didn't know exactly what Kurama did at work, he knew the more the red head was stressed out about it at the time, the more his back seemed to bother him.

Hiei glanced at the clock on the nightstand, 'Five O'clock, wonder what time he came to bed.' The last time he remembered seeing the clock, it was eleven something and the red head was still at his desk.

Hiei crawled over and straddled the tall lean frame, leaving his weight on his heels. The much smaller frame settled with his hips on the red head's thighs and watched as Kurama stilled when his hair was moved off his back, but didn't wake. Rubbing his hands together, warming them, he then began to knead the small of the man's back. Almost immediately, he was rewarded with a deep popping sound.

Kurama let out a cross between a huffed moan and a pained hissed as green eyes fluttered opened to the still darken apartment, the only light at this hour coming up from the lights along the piers. Feeling the small hands work his back, the red head felt the tension leaving and began to grunt in bliss. "As usual….my hero…to the rescue." He muttered.

"Hn…..had to do some thing. With you flopping like a fish…I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep." Hiei said softly, continuing his ministrations.

"Sorry." Kurama muttered, his eyes closing again.

Hiei smirked and leaned over next to his ear. "Though there is a way to exhaust myself back to sleep." He whispered.

"Oh." Green eyes opened wide and Kurama smirked. "And that would be?"

"Me doing all the work." Hiei whispered and started kissing the pale smooth flesh of Kurama's back. He then scooted up so his crotch was right on the red head's rear where he began grinding his hips in a slow, circular, motion.

Kurama started moaning and responded by lifting his hips up so he could grind back as his bed partner proceeded to ravish him. The red head went to turn over, only to have his arms pinned beside his head, causing him to gasp and squirm more. It hadn't taken Hiei long in their relationship to realize Kurama liked it a little rough and it wasn't long before Hiei was taking Kurama and not long after that, that the two were asleep again.

a)a)a)a

Red eyes opened to the sun up and an empty bed. It still amazed Hiei how after all this time they had been together, that Kurama could get up and out without waking him.

Wanting to stay in bed a little longer, his bladder finally won out and he got up yawning. Heading to the bathroom, he stumbled over to the sink and began to wash his hands when he noticed the note taped to the mirror.

'_Sorry, but I didn't get everything done last night. Went in early to get more done and be home at a reasonable hour….hopefully'._ It was signed with a simple K.

Hiei stared at the note, then pulled it down and stuck it in the second drawer where it met the company of many others.

'Might as well get my day going.' He thought and went ahead and took a shower.

He came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and grabbing his pack, began pulling out clothes. He pulled on a pair of black cotton pants before slipping a blue tank top over his still wet haired head.

Digging back in the pack, he pulled out about a weeks worth of mail that he had picked up at the post office on his way over last night.

'No time like the present.' The black haired told him self. He had the day off and no real plans. Sitting at the desk, he sorted through the usual junk mail, shredding the credit card offers and such until he came across a familiar envelope.

At first he wasn't going to open it, but decided to see what it was he was being rejected for this time. Ever since he had decided to go into the emergency service profession, he has applied for various positions over the last several years. Each time he had got rejected for either lack of training and/or lack of experience.

Opening the envelope with no real enthusiasm, for he already knew the letter word for word. He however found himself reading this one and red eyes blinked at what he read. The letter was typed, but had his name penned in.

It was a letter from the Emergency Services of Northern Yama telling him that his name has been brought up and he was being considered for a position. Not just any position, but Captain and in charged of his own squad. Getting to the bottom of the paper, the name Mr. Enma King was stamped and under that was typed, Director of E.S.N.Y.

This was different to say the least, but he still wasn't going to raise his hopes, for he had been in this spot once before. This letter said there were 15 candidates. What were the odds that he would beat out the others with his training and somewhat experience?

He had always wanted a job like this though. It was a dream job, a chance of a lifetime. According to the letter, he would be working in the mountains. A new squad was being formed due to the increase in vacationers and the stress on the neighboring services. Plus a proposed resort was being built. During the winter season he would be doing avalanche rescues along with high risk skiing recovery. In the off seasons, he would deal with training new recruits, missing and/or injured hikers and climbers. There were also chances of forest fires during the drought season.

He sat there for a few more minutes thinking about the possibility of getting such a job, but then shook his head and stuffed the letter back in the envelope before tossing it back in his pack. "What were the odds?' He thought again as he decided to go down to the garage, just below the loft, and work on his new project. He had sold his antique Sprite last year and had found an old WWII jeep, which was currently sitting in pieces. 'I have to remember to ask Kurama if he can do his magic and find some parts.' He told himself, deciding to ignore the letter.

End Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for the wonderful reviews…. :)

Chapter 3

Wednesday afternoon rolled around and Hiei found himself going into work early. There was no reason to sit around alone when he could be doing something productive.

With his emotions a little on edge, for no other reason than he missed Kurama. He found himself thinking about the red head a lot and it hadn't helped that he'd only talked to the man once since he'd left. And that was only for a few minutes Monday night, because the red head had been on his way to a 'social gathering' with his boss.

The black haired hit the door to the station only to pause when he noticed the bay empty. Wondering what the hell was going on since his pager hadn't gone off. He scanned the large bay and his eyes landed a blonde headed man over in a corner.

"Mitarai….where's the water truck!" He yelled at the rookie.

Mitarai looked up from the ropes he was inspecting. "Took it out for a flush, it's been a slow week."

"Did Yusuke go with them?"

"No, the Captain's in his office, but I wouldn't go in there if I were you." Mitarai replied.

"Why?" Hiei said, walking closer to the man.

Suddenly, they both heard a loud thump, followed by a string of words that made Mitarai blush.

"I've heard that before….." Hiei said, pivoting in the direction towards the other end of the bay.

"You're not going in there?" The young man questioned with a look of worry and fear plastered on his face.

"Got to, it's my job to face the blaze." Hiei smirked.

Mitarai gave a smirk in reply before going back to the ropes.

Hiei approached the station's office door and paused as he heard another loud thump, but this time no cursing followed.

A knock on the door made Captain Urameshi look up from the mounds of paperwork cluttering his desk. He was glad for the interruption, though whoever interrupted wouldn't be glad, he was glad for the reprieve.

"Come in." Yusuke snarled.

"Time for the monthly reports?" Hiei asked as he peeked in the door.

"How'd you figure that out Einstein?" The raven haired asked, pushing a stack of papers to the side so he could see a chair in front of his desk.

"Oh, just recognized that particular string of adjectives." Hiei shot back, stepping in and closing the door.

Yusuke broke out in a laugh, but the smile dropped almost immediately, replaced by a glare. "I'm glad you interrupted…take a seat." He said, his voice as stern as his face.

"What?" Hiei said, actually stepping back towards the door in complete confusion.

"Just take a seat." Yusuke's voice stayed straight and level.

Hiei walked cautiously over to one of two chairs in front of the desk, taking the one that had been cleared for viewing by the Captain. With every instinct in him wondering. 'What the hell did I do?' He sat there and waited patiently.

"Why the HELL didn't you tell me, Mister?!" Yusuke yelled.

Hiei's sat up straight, stunned, red eyes blinking. He had never seen, much less heard, such menace from his Captain. His sister yes, but not his captain.

"Well." Chocolate brown eyes stared at him, waiting for an answer.

Hiei shook his head, not understanding how he was supposed to reply. "What the hell are you talking about?" He asked, deciding to fish.

"This." Yusuke said, handing Hiei a typed letter that had been sitting to the side of the stacks of papers.

Red eyes quickly scanned the letter, the whole time feeling his Captain's eyes bore into his skull, as if he could dig out the answers he wanted.

_Dear Captain Urameshi, Station 51._

_We are interviewing one of your EMT's, a Hiei Jaganshi for a position with Emergency Services of Northern Yama._

_Your name was listed as a reference for both personal and business. To help us with our selection process, would you please fill out and complete the enclosed questionnaire. _

_Sincerely,_

_Office of Enema King_

_Director of E.S.N.Y._

Looking at the second paper, the black haired scanned over a list of personal and job related questions.

"It's common courtesy to tell someone that you're using them as a reference….damn it Hiei, it's common courtesy to tell your boss that you're out fishing." Veins were beginning to show along Yusuke's neck.

"You know I've been looking for a long time, I told you and asked you." Hiei said, tossing the papers back on the desk.

"You didn't tell me you had a hot prospect. All the others were…how'd you put it 'cold day in a warm place'." He countered.

"Snow day in hell." Hiei muttered, crossing his arms and sitting back in the chair. "I didn't even know I was in the running for this job." He said with sincerity.

"Really, so someone out of the kindness of their heart put your resume in." Yusuke's eyes rolled and he grabbed the papers from where Hiei had tossed them. "Emergency Services of Northern Yama." He said, looking at the letter. "That's a long ways north of here."

"Trust me Cap, I never put in for this job. The first I ever heard about it was a letter I got the other day. They must have gotten my name from a roster from one of the classes….or one of the other jobs I've applied for forwarded my resume." Hiei countered.

"Right….well, when do you think the JOB will start?" Yusuke said, placing the papers on the 'to do' stack.

"I don't really even know what the job is." Hiei said leaning forward as his own anger flared.

"Well if you find out. Be kind enough to inform me, will yeah." Yusuke said in complete aspiration. Leaning back in his chair, he placed his hands behind his head while his feet went up on the desk.

Hiei took a deep breath. "Honestly, I didn't know about this until a day or so ago." He said it softly, looking right at the chocolate brown eyes of his Captain, his friend. "And the letter just mentioned that they were looking at me as a prospect. It didn't even mention anything about an interview."

Yusuke looked at him and sat back straight in his chair, saying. "Okay, I believe you. I will answer the letter, but you tell me ASAP if you plan on taking this job. It affects more than just you."

"Okay Cap." Hiei said, standing up and going over to the door.

"Hey, sounds like this could be right up your alley." Yusuke said, giving him a soft smile.

"Yeah, it does." The black haired whispered. He went to open the door, but stopped as the door swung open on its own.

Standing there was Kuwabara, with an expression torn between hurt puppy and wounded wolf on his face.

"And just when were you going to tell me?!" The blood froze in Hiei's veins for he had never heard his partner speak with such harshness, first his Captain and now his partner.

"Tell you about what?" Hiei snapped, proceeding to go around his partner, who didn't budge and he huffed out. "Move it you big oaf."

"You weren't going to tell me, were you?" Kuwabara stated, stepping aside, but then followed his short partner as he walked across the bay.

Mitarai looked up at the two, but then tried to hide as he could tell something was up.

"Did anyone ever tell you it's not nice to eavesdrop?" Hiei asked, heading into the kitchen.

Chu looked up from his seat at the table as the pair entered. He was about to throw out a greeting, but saw the dark clouds looming over the two men. So he got up quietly instead, grabbed his mug and high tailed it out of the room.

"It's not eavesdropping when you can hear it all the way out in the parking lot." Kuwabara stated, leaning his back on the counter and crossing his arms as his partner dug in the refrigerator.

"We weren't yelling, we were talking loudly and you could have walked away." Hiei said, pulling out a bottle of water and slamming the door.

His voice calming, the orange haired asked. "Were you at least going to tell your sister?"

"I don't even know what's going on. How can I tell her something when I don't even have an idea as to what it's about? You know I've been looking over the years and not one of them has come through." Hiei's voice softened. "There's no reason to get my hopes up." He looked at the counter, wondering what he would do if it did pan out. Like Yusuke said, it affected more than just him and the others at the station, there was a certain red head to consider in all this as well.

"Remember that feeling I had……" Kuwabara looked like he was going to say something more, but their little 'chat' was cut off as the call alarm sounded.

The two gave each other a nod as they silently agreed that the time for personal talk was over, it was time for work.

a)a)a)a

_**(Friday evening, on the other side of the country)**_

A black limo pulled onto a private airstrip just about an hour before sunset. It came to a stop just outside a small building, where a man in a black and white suit got out of the driver's seat to open one of the back doors, allowing two figures to emerge.

Kurama got out and stretching his back looked towards the streamline jet out waiting on the small runway. Letting out a sigh, he thought. 'I hate flying.' As he also thought about the hours he would be spending sitting on the jet. Though it was better than a commercial flight, it still sucked.

Mr. Takanaka saw the look on his employee's face. Knowing the red head hated traveling, he was glad the lad had come along none the less. What they, better yet, Shuiichi had tried to do this week, more than proved he had made the right decision in hiring the young man.

"Shuiichi." Mr. Takanaka said, getting the young man's attention. "Why don't you wait until the last minute to board the plane? I'm going to make a few phone calls to the office." He then went to head inside.

"Thank you sir." Shuiichi said, giving a nod as he looked at the pilot waiting by the ladder to the plane.

The limo drove off and green eyes watched as another limo approached. Tilting his head in curiosity, Shuiichi watched as the limo pulled up next to him and the back window went down.

"I guess I didn't teach you everything." A man with long black hair said.

"I learned enough." Shuiichi replied, looking at his former boss.

"That was a valiant effort my boy….trying to save the future of those low lifes." Karasu said, looking at his former PA.

"What do you want with a mom and pop construction business?" Shuiichi asked, his defenses going up.

"I decided to get into the people business." Karasu said nonchalantly, studying his fingernails.

The red head huffed. "This is the third one this month you've gobbled up. So tell me, what do you plan to do with these people once you're done playing with their livelihoods."

Karasu's voice turned stern. "That is none of your concern."

"Then let me take a guess. You're going to merge them, force them to move for they'll have no choice. Then in a year or so when you're done with whatever venture you were on, and got bored with, you'll shut it all down and leave these people high and dry."

"You're right. I will only need them for a year or so." Karasu said, still looking at his nails.

"Then you'll lay them off." Shuiichi said, eyebrows rising.

"I can not tell you that until the time comes." Karasu said, finally looking at the red head.

"For some, time seems to fly." Shuiichi said softly.

Karasu's face softened as he looked down. "Yes, I suppose so. It's hard to believe next month……" He was cut off.

"About that….no more." Shuiichi said firmly, his hands clenching at his side.

Karasu looked up, eyebrows raised. "My dear Shuiichi, no more what?" He asked, though there was a slight smirk on his lips.

Shuiichi knew he was falling for the bait, but went ahead and said it. "No more sympathy cards. It's been almost three years. Let him go…..let me go." Green eyes blinked at his former boss, brother to his former lover, his lover for a short time.

Karasu could see the silent plea in those green pools of emerald and he inwardly felt sorry, for a moment. "I can't do that." He ended up saying.

"You're going to have to, because I'll never come back to you." Kurama said. He turned when he saw his current boss standing at the door to the building. Apparently he had been standing there for a few minutes as he had a deadpan look on his face. Not even giving a second look, the red head walked over to his boss and said. "Are you ready sir?"

Karasu sat there, watching as the tall lean red head and his boss climb aboard the plane. He watched until the door closed and the plane started its taxing down the short runway. It gathered speed before lifting off and clearing the tree line into the sunset.

"Sir." A man with brown curly hair, glasses and freckles on his face, leaned forward in the seat across from him.

"Yes, what is it?" Karasu said, finally facing front, as the plane was now out of sight, to address his personal assistant.

"The architect called with the final design plans and the head contractor wants to know when you will hold the ceremony to break ground. Also the Services called, wanting you to confirm the final list of personnel." The personal assistant informed.

"Get the contractor on the phone. I'll make the other call myself." Karasu looked out the window one last time before pushing the button for it to go up.

"Yes sir." Yuu Kaitou said. He had remained quiet as his boss and Shuiichi Minamino talked. Though he wanted nothing more than to speak up with the news he had, he waited. For it seemed the two had some things to hash out. They seemed to be very personal things and though he didn't understand, he planned to know everything he could about the red head.

Yuu had missed the week of negotiations and seeing Shuiichi squirm in an attempt to win the bid for Takanaka Enterprises. Though he missed learning a few things, he had more important things to deal with at the time.

Yuu was so glad he had answered that personal ad in the paper. Being picked to be Mr. Karasu's personal assistant was a 'dream come true'. Oh, his father was a little disappointed in him for leaving the family business, but man he couldn't beat the benefits he had now. Shuiichi had been a fool to quit this job. How could someone give up what he was offered? An apartment with all the latest furnishings and gadgets, a driver to take him anywhere he wanted to go, not to mention the travel to see the world and then there was the pay itself. 'I always knew you weren't as bright as me Shuiichi.'

End Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for the reviews, I can't thank you all enough…..

Chapter 4

_**(Sometime after one a.m., Saturday morning. The beach house) **_

A small hand reached down to grab the coverlet at the foot of the bed. It felt around for a moment until the body it was attach to rolled over with a huff.

One red eye opened to complete darkness when it felt something tickling its lid, then the other one opened when it realized it was hair. Hiei didn't have to have light to know that it was red hair he was facing.

'How the hell does he manage to do that?' He thought, while also wondering what time Kurama had made it in. He, himself, had gotten in just after midnight and after a quick shower, had gone straight to bed.

He watched a moment as the lean frame tossed to his side, pulling the cover tighter around him.

'And he's always cold.' The black haired muttered in thought. Freeing up the blanket on his side, the small frame scooted closer and placed an arm over the taller one. Squirming in so his chest was against the red head's back, he cupped the blanket around them and fell back to sleep.

Morning dawned to find Hiei awake with Kurama's upper torso perched on his chest. It was a little after nine a.m. and he needed to get going, but as he went to move, while trying not to disturb the red head, he paused as green eyes looked up at him.

"I need to get up." He whispered.

Kurama snuggled in closer and let out yawn before saying. "Let me sleep in for another hour or so and we'll go have a late breakfast before you go to work."

"Sorry, can't do that." Hiei said softly, his finger subconsciously playing with red strands.

"You don't have to be at work till noon." The red head pouted, tilting his head back so the black haired could see his puppy dog eyes.

"I know, but Kuwabara told me last night that Yukina has requested my presence at ten this morning." Hiei said, actually sounding scared.

"Requested…don't think I've ever heard that one." Kurama muttered, settling back down.

"You might not have, but she's used it before. Something's up." Hiei muttered, deep down wondering if Kuwabara had told her about 'the job.'

"Can't you…. just call her and….reschedule?" The red head asked around a yawn.

"Hn." Hiei huffed, before smirking. "You've known my sister for awhile now, would you tempt it?"

"You have a point." Kurama muttered, rolling away and pulling Hiei's pillow out from behind him as he went. Cuddling it to his chest, he fell back to sleep almost immediately.

a)a)a)a

Hiei managed to get in a quick shower and got dressed without waking Kurama. Before heading out and jumping in the Z, since his Sprite was blocked in, he left a note telling the red head that he would see him after work at his apartment.

After stopping at a drive thru for a light breakfast, so he could tell Yukina he'd already ate. The black haired finally found himself dragging his feet up the steps to the Kuwabara's residence. When he'd pulled up, he'd noticed the van in the driveway, but the truck was gone.

'Wonder if Kuwabara took the kids with him when he made the run for it.' He thought.

With an all too familiar dread, he managed to make it onto the porch in time to see Yukina coming down the hall towards the door.

"You're late." She scorned as she opened the storm door to let him in.

"Five minutes." He grumbled.

"Let's sit at the kitchen table, shall we." She gestured, leading the way.

"Where's Kuwabara?" He asked, taking a seat as Yukina went over to a boiling teapot.

"He volunteered to car pool the kids and their friends to soccer practice." She answered, pouring them some tea. "That was so considerate of him." She mused.

'Hn, not considerate, convenient.' Hiei thought, his red eyes rolling as he accepted the cup she handed him.

Ignoring the gesture, she flat out said. "So tell me…..what's this great job you've been offered." She sat down across from him with a big smile on her face and he saw a twinkle in her matching red eyes.

'That's it…the oaf must die.'

a)a)a)a

_**(Later that afternoon)**_

Hiei sat with his feet propped up on the kitchen table at the fire station. It was late evening and he had his nose stuck in a book. To his right was Mitarai with his nose stuck in a magazine and to his right was Chu, his nose was stuck in the evening newspaper.

It had been a quite afternoon and they had nothing to do. Kuwabara was out in the bay taking care of something, but that was his choice. The others saw this as a time to chill. Yusuke, unfortunately, was stuck in his office, still working on the monthly reports that were due soon.

"Wada is it with theses richy wankers." Chu said, breaking the silence.

"What's up Chu?" Mitarai asked, looking up.

"Ones of those rich wankers iz buildin' some fancy smacny resort." Chu answered, still reading.

"So, what'd you care?" Hiei asked, looking up from his book.

"Whos canz affords to stayz there. It woulds probablys costs me a month's worth of checks to stays one night. Probablys a weeks ones justs to asks to takes a crap in the johnny." Chu huffed.

Before anyone could comment, all three looked over as the kitchen door swung opened, allowing Kurama to step in. He was holding in his hands four white plastic bags.

"Hey…you all hungry?" He asked.

"I didn't know you were stopping by." The black haired said, putting his feet and the book down.

"I called and Captain Yusuke said he didn't think you all had made plans for dinner yet, so…" The red head shrugged, holding up the take-out.

Hiei got up to relieve the man of his burden, but just as he went to take a bag, the alarm sounded and the radio squawked out something about a car accident.

"Sorry, duty calls." Hiei smirked and then pulled Kurama down by the collar of his jacket to give him a kiss on the lips.

"Seems ours litt' hots-shot's alreadys founs the fire." Chu said, smiling. He had seen the whole scene, as he was the first one to the door, thus right behind Hiei.

The black haired slipped an arm behind his back and Chu found himself on the receiving end of a 'one-finger salute.' Letting out a hardy laugh, the Aussie grabbed Hiei by the back of his shirt and pushed him through the door as Kurama stepped aside.

The red head just stood there blushing as the two left. When they were gone, he turned to see Mitarai sitting at the table, reading a magazine.

"You're not going with them?" He asked, walking over to the table and placing the bags on it.

The blonde looked up from his magazine. He had seen Hiei go to kiss the red head and immediately went back to reading. It never bothered him that Hiei was gay, but he didn't have to like it when two men kissed in front of him.

"Um….no." He said, putting the magazine down. "I'm watching the station today since the guy who usually does it is off. Besides, it gives me a chance to study."

Green eyes looked to the magazine in the young man's hands then down at the stack of medical/rescue booklets on the table. "Taking a break?" He asked.

Mitarai shrugged. "Sort of…um, you're more than welcome to stay, but it's hard to tell how long they'll be."

"Do you like Chinese?" Kurama asked with a smile as he fished in one of the bags and began pulling out containers.

a)a)a)a

"Control to Rescue 51." Squawked from the truck's radio.

"Rescue 51, go ahead." Hiei replied. Grabbing the door handle as Kuwabara had to make a hasty lane switch as the car in front of them hit the brakes when the driver saw the flashing lights.

"I hate it when they do that." Kuwabara snarled. "For god's sakes, just get over."

"Rescue 51…police have arrived on scene. They report two vehicles involved. Both drivers are reported conscious and coherent. One is requesting an ambulance. Police on scene have called off fire assistance, but are still requesting emergency personnel." The dispatcher reported.

"Control…Station 51 lead. We are two minutes out. Will continue to scene." Yusuke cut over the line.

"Well, he decided that. Must want to see the results." Hiei muttered, tossing the radio mike on the dash.

"Or wondering if it's Keiko again." Kuwabara said with a smile.

"Hn." Hiei smirked, a smile playing across his lips as he remembered the call to 'rescue' the captain's wife.

"Okay." Cut in Yusuke's voice again. "Let's back it down, we're not in a hurry."

Fumbling for the mike, Hiei replied. "Roger."

Kuwabara noticeably relaxed as he cut the siren and slowed to 50 mph. "Yep, nice Sunday drive, eh shrimp."

"Hn".

Four minutes later and Squad 51 pulled into the parking lot of a Mexican Restaurant. Getting a wave from a cop, the truck pulled around to the back of the building where there were two cars that appeared to have been in a collision. One vehicle was a relatively new, sea green, VW bug and the other an old, charcoal grey, Buick.

As the two EMTs got out and grabbed gear, Yusuke went over to the officer in charge. After a minute the raven haired came over to them.

"I think we got a Goose here guys." He said.

Hiei looked up at his captain, an eyebrow raised in question.

Yusuke smiled." The state trooper's said the Bug was backing out and because of the two larger vehicles on either side, she couldn't see. She was backing up slowly when she tapped the Buick in the front passenger quarter panel." He muttered, cocking his thumb at the trooper standing by the fire truck chatting with Chu. "Says the impact was at a whopping three miles an hour, if that."

"Great." Kuwabara said, grabbing the half-backboard.

"Yep, said the guy in the Buick was fine when they first got here, but started whining about his 'pains.'" Yusuke said, making quotes with his fingers. "When he saw the other driver and then said he wanted cops and an ambulance."

"That woman over there the other driver?" Kuwabara motioned with his head, indicating a woman talking with the state trooper's partner. She was wearing a waitress uniform, which meant she most likely worked here and was just getting off shift.

"Yep, she's pretty upset, thinks he's really hurt since he won't get out." The raven haired said, shaking his head.

"Lovely." Hiei grumbled as he and Kuwabara picked up their gear and started walking towards the car. "Just what I wanted for dinner, Goose!"

"_Hiei, why do you call them a goose?" He remembered Kurama asking one time._

"_You know how a mother goose will flap around and honk like its wing is broken if you get near her nest?" Hiei had asked._

"_Yes, it's to try and draw the predator away from the nest." The red head answered._

"_Well, in fireman's lingo, a goose is an accident victim who probably really isn't hurt, but they squawk and whimper like they are, in preparation for the law suit."_

"_Aww"._

"_It's worse though. We have to treat them like they're really hurt so we can say in court we did our jobs. I see it as waste of valuable resources and our time. Don't get me wrong, sometimes they are hurt and are just in shock, but I hate the fakers."_

"What's he hoping to do….get a date with her?" Kuwabara said, noticing that the woman was nice looking.

"Hn…probably going to sue the restaurant itself." Hiei stated.

"Not so loud you two." Yusuke said, his voice turning stern, stopping the two.

"He's probably right." The orange haired grumbled.

"That's not our job. You need to follow the book, just get him out and to the hospital." Yusuke said.

They both straightened and said in unison. "Yes Sir."

Yusuke held his face until the two turned and walked away before chuckling.

The man in the sedan noticed the two firemen walking up and began to moan loudly. Hiei and Kuwabara winced, then looked at each other and shook their heads.

Sitting the gear down in front of the car, Hiei took notice of the 'damage' on the front quarter panel as he circled to the passenger's side door. The frame was not even dented. He opened the door as Kuwabara opened the back driver's door so he could climb in the backseat behind the 'patient'.

"Sir, can you hear me?" Hiei asked, checking for a pulse and looking for visual signs of injury.

"Ohhhh, my neck." The victim, who appeared to be in his twenties, whimpered and turned his head to look at the black haired.

"Sir, don't move." Kuwabara said, taking his hands and placing them on either side of the man's neck, moving it to a prone straight position.

The man jumped at the touch. "What are you doing?" He basically growled.

"My partner's just going to hold your neck still until we can get the brace on you." Hiei informed him.

"Why do I need a brace?" The man asked.

"If you are having neck pains then you may have a spinal injury and you could make it worse by moving." Hiei told the man and went to get out of the car.

"Where's he going?" The man asked.

"Just take it easy, he's getting the neck brace." Kuwabara told him, trying to listen for signs of shock.

The black haired returned with the brace and he and Kuwabara placed it around the man's neck, cinching it tight.

"Does…it have…to be…so tight….I cans….hardly….swallow." The man managed to get out.

"It is for your own protection, the slightest movement could paralyze you. Now we need to lean you forward so we can get you strapped to the backboard. Do you have any other pain?" Hiei asked.

The man tried to shake his head 'no'.

"We can't risk just moving him. If he's feeling no other pain then shock might be sitting in." Hiei said to Kuwabara, who just gave a firm nod. "Don't move unless one of us moves you, got it?" He then instructed the man.

The man tried to nod.

Red eyes rolled at the attempted gestured and Hiei positioned the short backboard behind the patient. Securing the driver firmly to the board, the black haired jumped out to go around to the driver's side.

"I'll get it Hiei." Yusuke said, coming over with a large pry-bar in his hands.

Hiei stepped back as his captain jammed the bar in the space between the door and the frame, popping the door open.

"My car!" The man yelled.

"Sorry." Yusuke said. "It was stuck." The raven haired gave a nod to Hiei and walked off with a grin on his face visible from the space station.

a)a)a)a

Hiei stood outside examination room 2 waiting to get the all clear to go in and grab the gear.

The door opened and doctor Elder Toguro stepped out, followed by an orderly who was wheeling the patient out in a wheelchair. The man didn't even look at him as he was taken down the hall, but the orderly did, with a grin ear to ear.

"Is he going to be alright?" Hiei asked. He usually didn't ask about a rescue victim, but this time, he just had to know.

"He's fine." The doctor said, walking away.

"Can I get my gear then?" The black haired called out.

"Yes." Was the only reply.

Hiei smirked and stepped into the room to see all the gear and tape scattered about. He and Kuwabara had done the complete work-up on the man. Not only had they put him in the neck brace and secured him to the short backboard, but before they went to remove him from the car. They had taped his arms to his chest, along with binding his knees and ankles together, before lifting him out and securing him to the full backboard. Once they were done with that, they then placed padded head braces on either side of his head and then taped those into place. By the time the two were done, the victim couldn't even twitch a finger.

The man had complained the whole time, but the two just kept telling him 'We don't want to take the risk'.

The poor lady who had been driving the other car almost went into shock seeing what was being done. Kuwabara went over after the man was put in the ambulance to talk to her and to see if she was alright since Hiei got the honor, after his rock lost to paper, to ride with the patient.

The black haired had started pulling tape off the backboard and throwing it in the trash when his partner came in.

The orange haired didn't say a word as he grabbed the pads and started ripping the tape off them. However, when he looked over at Hiei, he couldn't help but let an evil smile cross his face and he said. "Remind me to restock the tape."

Hiei just shook his head, chuckling softly.

a)a)a)a

Fifteen minutes later and the two were finally leaving. Hiei was wondering if Kurama had stayed and waited on him when he heard Koto call out.

"Hey Hiei, congratulations on the job."

The black haired paused and looked over at her, his red eyes narrowing in anger. Her eyes went wide before she lowered her head and walked off.

Continuing to head towards the exit, Hiei grumbled. "Is there no one that you or your wife hasn't told?"

Kuwabara grabbed him by the arm, stopping them just outside the doors. "And just what the hell's that suppose to mean?" He asked.

"Just what it sounded like. Yukina played twenty questions with me this morning about a job that I know nothing about and have no hope of getting." Hiei growled out.

"That's why she wanted to see you this morning?" Kuwabara sounded surprised.

Hiei just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"How'd she find out? I thought you didn't want her to know." Kuwabara's said, there was confusion clearly evident on his face and in his voice.

"I'm sure you let it slip." Hiei accused.

"I didn't say a thing, you told me not to." The orange haired said with hurt replacing the confusion in his voice.

"Forget it, let's just go, I'm hungry." The black haired said, walking towards the truck. Getting in, he hung his helmet behind the seats and sat there waiting 'impatiently' for his partner.

"Hey shrimp." Kuwabara said, finally getting in the truck after putting the gear up.

"What." Hiei huffed, really wanting the subject to be dropped.

"I've been thinkin'" The orange haired said.

"That's a first." The black haired grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Listen." Kuwabara said harshly then his voice calmed as he said. "I've known you've never quite trusted me after I let it slip about you being…but at least be a little considerate and give me the benefit of the doubt here. I told you I would not tell her and I'm telling you now." He turned in his seat so he could look directly into the red eyes of his partner, his friend and he declared. "I did 'not' tell her."

"Then how…" Hiei whispered feeling and seeing the sincerity from his partner, brother-in-law, but most importantly, his friend.

"Did you ever think that Yusuke might have told Keiko and she might have mentioned it to Shizuru who then mentioned it to your sister?" Kuwabara told him his theory.

Hiei sat there dumbfounded. Why hadn't he thought of that? If Yusuke had mentioned it to Keiko, even if it was unintentional, she would have asked Kuwabara's sister and not getting an answer there, either one of them, or more likely both, would have called Yukina.

"I'm sorry….I just didn't want her to know." Hiei sighed. "It's not going to happen so there was no sense in getting her worked up over it." He said softly, looking out the side window as the truck started up and then pulled out.

a)a)a)a

Sunday morning found Hiei asleep and Kurama sitting at his desk, looking through a weeks worth of mail.

'Bill, bill…..trash….shred….' The red head's mind was reciting. 'Hn, a sale at Penny's, I've been needing some new socks…..what's this?' Green eyes widened as they looked at a letter from an Emergency Services of Northern Yama.

Cutting open the letter with a 'creatively acquired' 'Karasu Inc' letter opener, the red head unfolded the papers and began to read. Absorbed in the letter, he didn't notice Hiei had gotten up.

"What's up?" Hiei asked, noticing how intent the narrowed green eyes scanned the paper.

"Hn." Kurama looked up at the black haired, a little surprised. "Oh…It's a letter from some place up north saying that I was listed as a reference for you and they want me to fill out a questionnaire." He said, looking at the second page, scanning. "I remember you asking me if you could use me as a reference, but you should have told me that you actually did. When did you decide to apply for this?" He wondered.

'Damn….how.' Hiei thought, trying to remember if and when he'd used Kurama as a reference. He might have, but he hadn't been looking for another job in, well, almost a year and a half he'd say.

"What do they want to know?" He asked, walking over to the desk. He remembered the questions on Yusuke's. They had all been related to his work ethnics, skills and conduct, but what were they asking Kurama.

"Um….let's see…….how long have I known you…oh." The red head began saying, but paused.

"What?" Hiei almost growled it out.

Speaking calmly, Kurama said. "One of the questions is, 'To what relation are you to the applicant.'" He looked up to see a blank look on the man's face.

"Okay…what's wrong with that?" Hiei finally said.

"What do you want me to say?" Kurama asked softly.

"What do you mean?" Hiei asked, red eyes blinking.

"Do you want me to say, friend….boyfriend….lover?" Green eyes saw the face change to a cross between 'oh no' and the 'I hadn't thought of that' expression. "That's what I thought." He muttered, standing.

"Thought what?" Hiei snapped, snapping out of it and crossing his arms.

"You're still afraid to tell anyone." Kurama stated, dropping the papers on the desk. "You're afraid they'll discriminate."

"I'm not ashamed of you…but you know how people are." Hiei retorted, going on the defense. "I told you didn't I, we wouldn't…." He began to mutter, but was cut off.

"Only because you let it slip…..I saw you berating yourself after you said it." The red head's voice was rising, though it had started to crack as he went on. "And I'm sorry…I don't know how people are. Maybe it's because my former boss is 'bi' and I've been lucky no one has brought up the subject at work." He took a deep breath and then said softly. "I also have never had that feeling like everyone already knows and will automatically hold it against me."

"I just….." Hiei saw the sad look in the green eyes, causing him to falter. What could he say, it was all true. It had even taken a long time to get comfortable with the men he worked with after Kuwabara had let it slipped, about six months after the two had been stationed at Squad 51, that he was gay. He was lucky they didn't seem to hold it against him. He hadn't earned the name 'hot-shot' for nothing, but things might be different if he got another job.

"Don't worry, I'll just tell them we became friends after you rescued me." The red head said, his green eyes looking down as he turned. He then muttered. "I'm going to take a shower. I've got things to do today." Thus saying the conversation was over.

"You don't tell anyone." Hiei countered.

Kurama turned back around, his voice back under control. "If they ask I do, but I guess you're right. They didn't actually ask and well, we did become friends first after you rescued me so….." He shrugged.

"Tell them what you want." Hiei huffed.

"So you want me to go ahead and fill it out." Kurama said, green eyes blinking.

"Do what you want. I'm not going to get it anyways….so what does it matter." The black haired muttered. Letting out a sigh, he turned his back on the red head, looking out the windows.

"Hiei." Kurama said, taking a deep breath. He's always known, since they first got together, that Hiei was looking for a more 'adventurous' job and that he had been looking during the first stages of their relationship. He had thought, however, that the black haired had stopped looking since they were closer, but it seemed, who the others called 'hot-shot', still wanted that 'thrill job'. Though he could never help but wonder where that would leave them if Hiei ever got one.

The red head stared at the back of his partner for a moment before saying. "You know, no matter how you wish to view it. I've always consider you my hero, you do know that don't you?" He had let a soft smile form on his pale lips, an apology of sorts.

"Hn….I was just doing my job." Hiei said softly, looking at the floor.

The red head walked over and embracing the small frame from behind, continued. "Not only did you rescue me from my car, but you awakened something inside of me. Something that made me realize I was fooling myself in how I thought things should be." He gave a squeeze and then sitting his head on top of the black haired head, added. "You changed me and no matter what happens, I will forever be grateful to you."

Hiei turned and embracing the red head back, sighed deeply into the lean chest before whispering. "You did the same to me."

a)a)a)a

"Mother it's me." Shuiichi said, opening the door to his mother's apartment.

"Hello dear. I'm in the bedroom, be out in a minute." Shuiichi's mother Shori called out.

"Take your time." He called back, closing the door behind him. As he waited, he decided to get a drink of water. Grabbing a glass out of the kitchen cabinet, he saw a letter laying on the counter. He was reading it when his mother appeared.

"I'm ready dear." She said, adjusting the light jacket around her small frame as she stepped into the kitchen. "I'm sorry Hiei had to work."

"Me too…..mother, what's this?" He asked, looking at her with the paper in his hand.

"Oh that….apparently the facility failed a health inspection. I can't understand it….this place has been number one on the country's assistant living list for years. I've not seen any cockroaches or mice in the few years I've been living here. Oh, I've seen an occasional spider or water bug, but I don't consider those harmful. I asked some of the long timers and they said they haven't seen any mice either. The bug man comes every six weeks and it's been the same man for years." Shori's face was a mixture of concern and confusion, but then she said. "You were the one that insisted I choose this expensive place and I assumed it was because you didn't want me living with the rats." She cocked a smirk at him.

"Only the best for my mother." Shuiichi smirked back. "Do you know what they're going to do?" His voice now held its own concern.

"They have thirty days to 'fix' the problem and then there will be another inspection. I don't want to know what will happen if we fail." She said the last part softly, almost shuddering at the thought.

"And they told all the residents this?" Kurama asked, his red eyebrows rising at the news.

"Yes. They held a residents meeting and said that they will do everything and anything to fix the problems. They felt the residents needed to be told of the situation and I for one am glad they did." Shori's voice now held a little anger.

"I'm sure everything's fine." The red head tried to reassure her. "It might just be one of those things they had no control over. They'll take care of it. Like you said, I haven't seen anything and they're constantly fixing, painting, upgrading or redecorating. Let's not worry about it." Giving her a smile, he said. "Shall we go? They're having a sale at Penny's."

End Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the reviews….Rated '**M**'…as in "Danger Will Robinson….Danger…there is a lemon shower coming…"

Chapter 5

"Hey…watch it you big oaf." Hiei growled out as he looked up from the book he was reading.

Kuwabara had barely managed to catch the football, one handed, just inches from the Sprite's windshield.

"Don't distract me, I'm concentrating here." The orange haired said walking away from the car before lobbying it back to Chu who had went long across the parking lot.

"I'll try to remember to duck when your head explodes from the effort?" Hiei muttered.

"I heard that shrimp. If you have a problem, take it up with Chu. He's the one throwing it this way." Kuwabara said. Turning to face the 'shrimp', he didn't see the ball coming back and it hit him right in the gut. Both hands came up fumbling for it as he let out a "Humph."

"You're the one that's going to be fish food if you hit my car." The black haired said with a chuckled huff and went back to reading. He was sitting in a lawn chair just outside the door leading to the parking lot. It had been a slow day and the team had found things to do to pass the last few hours of their shift.

Red eyes read the same line again, his brain still not registering what the words meant. His mind was on other matters than the printed words in front of him, but the book was a good cover while he thought about things. No one seemed to bother him when he had a book in his hands.

It'd been almost two weeks since Yusuke and Kurama had received their letters from The Emergency Services of Northern Yama. He didn't know why he was thinking about the position so much, it wasn't like he was going to get it. But his captain and Kurama had sent in the questionnaire, they both had told him so and he just couldn't help but wonder what the two had wrote in response to the questions they had been asked. He knew his captain would be honest and professional about his remarks, but what about Kurama. If the red head had answered the questions honestly then they would know he was gay and that could definitely cause problems from the start. But then the red head would be lying if he said they were just friends and he didn't expect, nor really want, the red head to lie for him. 'Wonder how long it will be before I get the rejection letter.' He thought. 'Or even hear from them at all.'

Trying to get his thoughts about it out of his head, Hiei rolled his shoulders and repositioning himself in the lawn chair, forced his eyes to read and understand the book.

His attempt was foiled however as Mitarai came bursting through the door behind him, making him jump as the door banged into the wall.

"Hey guys, guess what just came in the mail?" The blonde youth yelled as he cleared the door and side stepped the lawn chair while waving a piece of paper in one hand.

Chu and Kuwabara came trotting over to see what was up.

"We got our registration for the Firefighter's Challenge." Mitarai said when the two looked over his shoulders at the paper in his hand.

The three turned when they heard a low, dull moan from behind them.

"Don't start belly aching shrimp! Last year we got seventh place. That's three whole places higher than before." Kuwabara said, sticking his chest out with pride.

"And our own Chu set a new record in the Ladder climb." Came out in nearly perfect stereo from Kuwabara and Mitarai, making the Aussie grin from ear to ear.

"Yous knows hows important toos thez Cap tis is." Chu said, seeing red eyes roll.

"I still don't understand why it's so important to him to win the Firefighter challenge." Mitarai said.

"Oh, it's always been the Captain's dream to put that particular trophy on the mantle. Since his father got one, he's got to get one too." Kuwabara answered.

Hiei stood up, saying. "Yeah, but his father was the captain of the Tourin Fire team at the time. They're about three times the size of our district, and they train for it….all year long." Folding his chair, he placed it against the wall near the door before continuing.

"We're just too small to ever win this thing. We don't and never will have the proper place or equipment to train with. Yeah we finished in the top 10 the past two years and we even managed to upset an upstate team, placing seventh. Only because Chu set a new record and their main man sprained an ankle and couldn't compete. Plus don't forget, one team couldn't make it at all. The squads that win first, and second, do it every year…we don't stand a chance." The black haired let them know he was finished by folding his arms.

"Why do you always have to doom say us?" Kuwabara asked. "We've got a chance, we're tough and anything's possible…you gotta think positive."

"Hn."

"Yous tells Cap yet?" Chu asked Mitarai, deciding to alter the subject as he felt the tension rising between Kuwabara and Hiei.

"I was going to, but he's in the office and when I went to knock, I could hear he was on the phone." He shrugged. "Sounded important, so I didn't interrupt."

Speaking of their captain, Yusuke stepped out the door. "Hey, there you are." He said as he saw them.

"Cap, we got the registration form to the Firefighter's Challenge." Mitarai said, holding the form out.

"Great…that's great, but…." Yusuke didn't take the offered paper as he turned to address Hiei. "I need to talk to you."

"What did I…?" Hiei went to ask, but was cut off.

"Nothing, I just need a word with you…..now." The raven haired said, not waiting for a reply, but instead walking back over and opening the door, holding it for the black haired.

Hiei looked to the others and gave a 'whatever' shrug before walking through the opened door. He waited for his captain to take the lead and then followed the man to his office across the bay. When they entered the room, Yusuke motioned to a chair and shut the door before taking his seat behind his desk. The last month's reports were finally done and filed, but the desk was already starting to accumulate the currents month's papers.

Hiei waited quietly, not understanding what was going on and not wanting to open his mouth until he got an idea about what this was about. For he remembered all too well the last time he had been in this situation.

Yusuke seemed flustered as he decided to organize his desk. Moving some papers from one side to the other, he took a deep breath and then ran a hand through his hair.

"I just got off the phone with a representative from The Emergency Services of Northern Yama." He finally said, not looking up as he continued to move papers.

Hiei just sat there quietly, though his eyebrows rose.

"Ah hell." Yusuke said, pushing away from his desk and finally looking at the man sitting across from him. "I don't think they wanted me to tell you, but I consider you a comrade…and a friend."

Afraid to say anything, Hiei did manage to look back at the chocolate eyes looking at him and gave a nod. His mind racing about why in the world they called his captain, wasn't the questionnaire enough?

"They're sending someone down to 'observe you'." Yusuke said, using the quote symbols. "I think they're hoping to see you in action." He sat back in his chair. "At least that's how I understood it."

The room went quiet.

"Well…aren't you going to say anything?" Yusuke said, breaking the silence.

"I…" Hiei went to open his mouth, but nothing would come out.

Yusuke smirked. "I knew you would be surprised, but I didn't think you'd be speechless."

"When?" Hiei finally managed to get out.

"I have no clue…my guess would be in the next couple of days. They asked about your schedule for the week and next. I think they want it to be unannounced." Yusuke answered. "If we don't happen to get a call when their here, don't worry. I won't disappoint them and let them leave without seeing something." He added with a cocky smirk.

"What?" Hiei wondered, red eyes blinking.

"I'm assuming you're asking what I have planned." Yusuke's eyebrows rose. "Well, starting tomorrow, I'm scheduling some drill work and we start training for the Firefighters Challenge." He informed with a smile.

Hiei tried not to vocalize his groan. "Why." He managed to get out through his confusion.

"Why…I'll take that as why someone is coming to see our 'hot-shot', not for the training." Yusuke said. Taking a deep breath, he elaborated. "Because Hiei….they're obviously interested in you." Looking down at his desk, his voice mellowed. "Why wouldn't they be? You've got all kinds of qualifications…yeah you lack real experience, but you can't get that around here. 'But' you have proven you can do just about anything you set your mind to." He looked backed up and made eye contact. "And I told them so in the questionnaire and on the phone just now. They obviously agree and want to see for themselves."

"Thank you." Hiei whispered.

Seeing the haunted look in the red eyes, Yusuke said. "Hey, maybe I shouldn't of told you…..try not to worry about it and just do your job. You'll be fine and…for what it's worth…I hope it works out the way you want it to." He added softly.

"No…I mean…I'm glad you told me." Hiei said, getting up with his mind in a fog, not wanting to believe the news. He'd never been watched at work before, sure he's gone to interviews, but this, this was different and it even 'felt' different.

"Go ahead and get out of here." Yusuke said as he started shuffling the papers again.

The black haired could only nod as he left the room. Walking across the bay to leave, Kuwabara called out from the kitchen.

"Hey shrimp, what did Cap want?"

"Nothing…I gotta go...meeting Kurama for dinner." Hiei answered and walked out before he could be questioned further. It was true he was meeting the red head for dinner, but not for a couple of hours or so.

The short figure didn't see the brown eyes of his partner watching him leave. Kuwabara stood there and couldn't help but shudder over the premonition he had had about his partner, his friend, his brother-in-law. He couldn't help but be worried. He had had another premonition, but hadn't told anyone. It had just happened a few days ago when he was sitting at the table with his wife and she was reading the newspaper. She voiced out the problems the apartment complex was having where Kurama's mother lived. The residents were rallying the press for support in saving their homes. Shaking his head at the memory of 'doom', he tried to think positive. It had helped to hear Hiei say he was having dinner with Kurama. The orange haired didn't know exactly what Kurama's job was, but knew the red head had been going out of town a lot over the past month and with his and Hiei schedule at the station. He knew the two hadn't been able to spend much time together.

Jumping in the Sprite, for the top was down. Hiei found himself driving aimlessly around until he realized he was driving along the beach. Pulling over and parking, he cut the engine and sat there in disbelief. What in the world we're they hoping to see in this small town? House fires are a given anywhere, car accidents as well. 'We do have a chemical plant.' He thought, but immediately shook his head. 'Where the hell did that come from?'

Watching the waves crash against the shore, a sudden cold chill hit the petite frame and Hiei found his teeth chattering. A feeling of pure anguish washed over him as he thought back to Kuwabara's earlier statement about 'doom saying'. The orange haired had been right about his truck after all, not to mention about other things as well. Also knowing he needed to tell Kurama what he'd learned, he told himself he would tell the red head at dinner tonight and looking at his watch, started the car and backed out. Realizing he was going to be late, he pulled out his cell phone to call Kurama and saw his message light blinking. Putting the top up, the black haired found himself turning on the heat even though it really wasn't that cold out.

a)a)a)a

The red head looked up at the clock just as a soft, sounding like it was trying to be suppressed, cough was heard from beside him. The sound caused the green eyes to shift, in concern, to the woman sitting beside him on the couch.

"Are you all right mother?" Kurama asked as he watched his mother take out a handkerchief and cover her mouth.

"Yes dear." Shori finally said after clearing her throat.

The red head had his doubts about her answer as he took a moment to study her. She looked pale, paler than normal and she had dark circles under her eyes. He mentally cursed himself for not noticing her fatigue earlier. Over the past several weeks, after she had received a copy of the inspection letter. Shori had made it her goal to find out what in the world was happening to the place she finally started calling home. She even took it upon herself to head up the resident's committee and though she kept telling him that she was not over doing it. He knew she was being stubborn. He was cut from the same cloth, so to speak.

"I said I'm fine dear." She informed firmly after noticing her son watching her.

"Of course." He said softly and went back to the papers scattered across the coffee table in her apartment.

Shori looked at the clock. "Don't you need to get going?" She asked.

"I still have time." He answered, picking up a sheet and scanning it.

Another coughing fit hit Shori and she actually leaned over, beginning to hack as she fought for breath.

"Let me make you some tea." Kurama offered, getting up and heading to the kitchen.

"Thank you." She managed to mutter.

Kurama tried to bury his concerns for the woman. He had had to grow up quickly during his childhood as he helped his mother with her illnesses. Realizing a long time ago that if she thought he was upset and stressed over her, the more she would push him away.

A few minutes later, Kurama handed her a cup and retook his seat on the couch. "Have you made a doctor's appointment?" He asked casually, stacking some papers.

"Yes dear, but he can't see me till next week. Now get out of here." She informed. "You said earlier you were meeting Hiei for dinner."

"I can always cancel." He said, not stopping in his stacking.

"No you won't. You also told me earlier that you two haven't been able to spend much time together lately." She said, taking a sip of tea.

"I see now where I got my memory from." He muttered, getting her to smile.

Standing up, the red head made a comment about using the restroom before leaving. Though when he shut the door, he pulled out his cell phone instead and called Hiei's cell phone. Not getting an answer, he left a message saying he needed to take a rain check on dinner, but he would come to the beach house later that night.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Kurama saw his mother at the sink rinsing out her cup. Seeing him, she said. "I think I'll turn in for the night." She dried her hands and headed down the hall to the bedroom.

Kurama gave a nod and proceeded to put the papers in order, knowing full well this was her way of 'getting him out the door.' "Let me clean this up and I'll get out of here." He told her.

"Goodnight dear and tell Hiei I said 'Hi'." She said as she disappeared behind the bedroom door.

Kurama finished with the papers and shoved them in a file tote before sitting back on the couch. She was more than likely going to be upset with him when she found out he hadn't left, but he couldn't leave. At least not until he knew she was comfortable and sleeping soundly.

a)a)a)a

The next morning found the gang in the recreation/kitchen room and all but one was playing cards.

"For…goshen…sake, Hiei. Woods youz sits yours bloody arse down." Chu exuberated. "Yous pacin' given me the willies."

Chu, Kuwabara, Mitarai and Yusuke were playing a round of gin rummy, while the shortest member of their team was patrolling the room like a caged panther.

Kuwabara eyed his partner with obvious concern written on his features. "Hey, here partner, take my hand." He said, offering his spot to the man.

"Nah, I've never enjoyed gin rummy. Sorry Chu, I just have a lot of pent up energy." Hiei replied stopping, but only for a minute as he began to fidget and he started pacing again, though this time he kept the route shorter.

"Well if you got that kind of spark. Head over to the other side of the room and whip us up some of your world famous veggie nachos." Yusuke said, placing a card on the table, only to have Kuwabara pick it up with an evil grin.

"Aye, that's woulds hits the spot, thats it would." Chu cheered.

"Alright!" Hiei bellowed with a huff and headed towards the kitchen half of the room, which was separated by a set of salon style doors. The long time vegetarian was slowly winning over the whole squad (except for Kuwabara) to his 'healthier' cooking.

After Hiei was out of ear shot and noises of pots and cabinets were heard, Chu said. "I's thoughts thez wouldn't be showin' themselzs for a days or twos, Cap."

"Yeah that's how I understood it, but you know Hiei." Yusuke said, looking at his cards again. He had gone ahead and told Kuwabara and Chu so they wouldn't hound their 'hot- shot' about what was eating him. The raven haired even made them wager a week's pay if they spilled the beans.

"Who's coming over?" Mitarai asked, looking up at Yusuke.

The raven haired looked back at the young man, wondering why he hadn't let the rookie in on what was going on. Thinking he should, he was about to say something when he was cut off.

"None of your business, rookie." Kuwabara said rather forcefully while pushing his chair back from the table. "I'm going to go help Hiei." He told them and dropping his cards on the table, headed over to the other side.

"Looks likes he's lost his favorite wombat…that one does." Chu said softly.

"Yeah, I haven't seen Kuwabara this upset….hum…maybe not since the time I beat him up in grade school." Yusuke said with a smirk.

"You and Kuwabara went to school together?" Mitarai asked, his eyebrows rising.

"Oh ho, you didn't know. Oh let me tell you some stories." Yusuke said, tossing his cards down and giving up the round.

"Tells 'im abouts thez time youz pantz 'im in the girl's lockie room." Chu said with a smile. Remembering the time he was told the story and how Yusuke actually got him to spurt soda out his nose at the image.

Over in the kitchen, Hiei was getting the chips arranged on the tray when he heard someone walk in and looked up to see his partner.

"Hey partner, need a hand." Kuwabara asked, trying to sound chipper.

"Nah, I got it…besides, you don't like veggie nachos." Hiei replied folding the bag and finding a clothespin to hold it shut.

"True but, we're a team….that means we're there for each other." Kuwabara stated and even gave the black haired a pat on the back.

Hiei turned, a suspicious eye turning on the larger man. He looked Kuwabara straight in the face and saw the concern and worries, making his red eyes soften at the sight.

"Sure partner, I can always use the backup." Hiei muttered and shuffled over, making room for Kuwabara at the counter. "Start cutting the onions, would you"

"You got it." Kuwabara smiled and went for a knife.

The room grew quiet except for the sounds of a knife tapping a cutting board when suddenly a loud, Aussie laugh came from the other side of the room.

"Damn it, Yusuke's telling that story again." Kuwabara grumbled, bashing the knife harder on the board.

"You mean the one where he pants you in the girl's locker room." Hiei said, trying but unable to hold a snicker from escaping his lips.

Kuwabara just growled and continued to pulverize the onions. Leaving Hiei fearing he would have to rush his partner to the hospital because he minced his fingers as well.

An hour or so later and Hiei came in carrying a large plate of nachos, while Kuwabara followed with a stack of plastic cups, plates and 2 liter of soda.

"Let's eat boys." The taller man bellowed as he set everything down and began filling cups.

Just as everyone went to reach for a nacho however, the alarm sounded and a female's voice came over the speaker.

"Squad 51, we have a power line worker trapped on a high tension tower off Main Avenue and fifth."

"Dang, dingly, dang….every bloody time." Chu roared as the squad mobilized. He managed to lag behind long enough to grab a hand full of chips and shovel them into his mouth before joining the others. It never failed, when they had a good meal on the table, they would have to abandon it and when they finally got back to it, it tasted worse than smoked kangaroo dun.

a)a)a)a

As Kuwabara pulled the rescue vehicle passed the last of the traffic jam and pulled up to the curve. Hiei jumped out and ran up to the pair of officers who seemed to be in charge.

"What are we looking at?" Hiei called out to the older of the two police officers. "What's the sit?"

Kuwabara walked up beside Hiei as the police officer turned to them.

"Hiei, Kuwabara." He said, nodding to the pair. Flipping the pages back on his small notebook, the man took a deep breath and said.

"We have an approximately 45 year old male power line worker. His partner says he seemed to have some type of seizure, then collapsed out of his cherry picker and fell onto the power lines." He pointed to the man dangling about a foot down from a set of power lines 15ft above them. The man was bent in two at the waist, his hands brushing his toes. Only the waist harness and the thin safety cable connecting him to a cherry bucket had kept him from falling to the ground.

"His safety belt caught him, but the lines are still hot, we're waiting for the power company to cut the lines." The officer added.

"There's only one little problem with that line." The other power line worker said. "This here line is on with the OPRAHS unit over there." He pointed to a larger building off on the right.

"Oprahs?" Hiei heard Mitarai say, he had hitched a ride with the pair.

"Operation Post Recovery Abroad Houses." Hiei droned. "It's for people who have serious surgeries with long recovery times, allows the family to stay with them. Think of it as a McDougal's house for grown ups." He added.

"Yeah." Kuwabara cut in. "That means a lot of Life support equipment and machines."

"Ooh." The rookie said.

"How long has he been like that?" Hiei asked, squinting up to see the man.

"Ooh I'd say about 20 minutes now." The worker said.

Because of the traffic pile up and the size of the ladder truck, it had to wait until police closed traffic off in the opposite direction. It finally pulled up and Urameshi jumped out, Chu right by him.

"What's up Hiei?" The raven haired called out.

"We got an adult male, approximately 45 years old, had a seizure of some sort and fell from his bucket, draping him over the power lines that are still hot." Turning to the other power line man, Hiei asked. "How long till power can be cut?"

"Dispatch estimated at least 20 minutes until they get the back up generators in place." He said.

Yusuke whistled. "That doesn't sound good."

Kuwabara added. "Even without all the other problems, hanging upside down like that could be restricting his breathing and blood flow."

"Agreed." Hiei stated, turning to the captain.

"Captain, we need to get up there and make sure he's stable, if not we can't wait for the power to be cut." Hiei said with a firm look in his eyes. The eyes softened when he added. "If he's…then we have all the time in the world."

Yusuke looked at him and giving a nod in understanding, said. "What do you got in mind …hot-shot?"

"First, make sure I don't fry my ass with 110 volts."

"Umm, those are 440 volts." The power line man corrected.

Hiei stared at him for a moment. "Right…fry my ass with 440 volts." He then asked the man. "If we use a fiber glass ladder, do you think it would be safe for me to get up there and at least check him out?"

"Should be, his safety harness is non-conducting, otherwise it would have blown something, being draped across the lines like that." The man replied. "But I wouldn't touch him, none the less"

"Got it." Hiei said, turning back to Yusuke. "Cap." He said, waiting for the go ahead.

Yusuke thought for a moment then said. "Agreed, Chu get the ladder truck in place."

"Aye." The Aussie called out and hurried off.

Within minutes the truck was set and the ladder extended to within three feet of its destination. Hiei quickly trotted up the ladder, reaching the injured man within moments.

Everyone on the ground fidgeted as they watched Hiei inspect the man carefully, without touching him. They could hear Hiei talking to the man, but heard no response.

"He's alive." Hiei finally called out. "But out of it. His eyes are open and dilated. Breathing is thready and raspy. You called it Kuwabara." The man had even aspirated, meaning the guy had thrown up and some of it had gotten into his lungs.

Hiei climbed back down the ladder, they needed to think of something and fast.

"He doesn't have much time up there in that state." Kuwabara stated.

Hiei added. "He's right. I think he's beginning to pool liquid in his upper respiratory tract."

"What're my options…that don't involve roasting a squad member?" Yusuke asked.

"Wees coulds tries cuttin' the safetie harness." Chu suggested, looking up at the man, thinking.

"We couldn't grab him till the harness was free of the lines, it would be too risky." Hiei replied. "Though I did think of that while I was up there."

"Wells ain'ts yous thez kitty's meow." The Aussie smirked.

"Umm…what if we tied him to a backboard." Mitarai stated.

Everyone stopped for a second. "That just might work." Hiei said. "But how do we tie him to…." He stopped, thinking.

After a few moments of silence, Yusuke said. "What do we got?"

"How's this Cap, we get two guys, one on either tower, there and there." Hiei began to suggest, pointing at the two towers on either side of the man. "We work a harness over the guy and they lift him, just a little, then our lineman friend here frees his safety harness."

"How do we attach the ropes?" Kuwabara asked.

"I could use the Jerry poles to loop the ropes through the rings on his safety belt." The lineman said.

"Jerry pole?" Hiei asked.

"Wait here." The lineman ran to his truck and returned with a twelve foot, extendable pole with a strange 'J' shaped end.

"See, we use this to clip and unclip special 'D' rings to the wire to pull lines." He told them and even demonstrated how it worked.

"Excellent, okay….Mitarai get me the rope…." Yusuke turned to say, but the rookie was already standing there with two bundles of rope. "Good work." He praised.

Hiei went to reach for the Jerry pole, but the lineman pulled it back out of reach. "Sorry, you're not trained, I'll have to do it."

The lineman efficiently knotted the rope on the rings then with a lot of cursing, managed to get them attached to the victims harness. He then started climbing up the ladder the firemen had put up to the cherry picker so he could cut the safety line.

"Alright Chu, over there….Kuwabara, you take that one." Hiei said and both men took off at a trot towards their perspective tower. They started their climb up the 15 foot towers, each with one end of the rope tied to their safety belts.

"What next…'Captain' Jaganshi?" Yusuke jokingly smirked.

"That's not funny." Hiei growled, but still ended up blushing.

Trying to look innocent, Yusuke said. "What…this is your show."

"Right." Hiei said, they could joke later. Right now they had work to do. "I'll go get under the man, Mitarai with me." The two headed over to the ladder. "Cap, at my signal." He called out when he was situated.

"Roger." Yusuke replied.

Hiei climbed back up under the man and then waved to his Captain, who had magically acquired a megaphone.

"Okay, Chu, Kuwabara, heave…easy, slowly…..STOP!" Yusuke called out, watching Hiei's hand signs.

"Okay, cut the safety harness." Hiei called out and suddenly the safety harness went swinging over the side of the bucket, narrowly missing smacking the black haired in the face with its metal end.

"Okay, Chu, Kuwabara…down…down…Hiei's got him…..get over there and help him." Yusuke ordered.

The large crowd that had formed cheered as Hiei and Mitarai lowered the man down the ladder to the now waiting ambulance.

As the ambulance crew began prepping the man, Hiei started rambling to the paramedics. "We have an adult male approximately 45 years old…"

What Hiei didn't know at the time was that amongst the crowd that had gathered, a large 'stature' man had worked his way to the front of a small group of spectators near the center median. The closest he could get without being pushed away by the cops. His car had been one of the one's stuck in traffic and he had gotten out when he saw the Squad 51 rescue truck pass him. The boisterous man was well groomed, his brown hair and beard cut close to his face. He was dressed in a gray business suit tailored made to fit his large barrel chest. At almost 6'4" and 350 lbs, the man towered over the average people, but no one seemed to pay attention to him. All eyes had been focused on the rescue and he had even found himself, along with the others, clapping when the worker was finally back, safely, on the ground.

A cell phone rang and the man looked to the petite Asian woman standing beside him. She was wearing a simple black suit jacket with a matching black, knee length, fitted skirt and her long black hair was braided down her back. He watched as her right hand reached into a pocket then pulled out the phone and placing it next to an ear, heard her soft voice say 'Hello'.

Eyes going back to the action, he heard, 'Sir' and looked over to see the woman holding the phone out to him.

"Thank you Ayame." He said, taking the phone and placing it next to an ear.

He listened for a moment before saying. "Seems I'll make it back in time for the planning and zoning meeting after all."

There was another moment of silence as the person on the other end spoke.

"No, I haven't yet, but let's just say I got lucky and got a front row seat….and I like what I saw."

Another moment of silence and he ended the conversation. "Thank you again for mentioning the name." He hung up the phone and handed it back to his secretary.

"I've seen enough, let's get back to the car. They're starting to let traffic move." He told her.

"Yes sir."

a)a)a)a

Kurama shut the door on the Z and went to head towards the entrance to the apartment complex when something caught his attention. About 10 to 15 feet away, over in a common area, stood the janitor and another man, in a business suit, whose back was facing the red head.

Kurama paused, looking at the back of the man. Something was familiar about him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Just as he was about to shrug it off and turn away, the man shook hands with the janitor and pivoted to his left to leave.

'That kind of looks like Yuu.' Kurama thought, trying to get a better look, but the man had walked further away.

Thinking he must have been mistaken, the red head shrugged and hurried in to see his mother. Shori had called him at work that morning and said she needed to see him. She was none to please to hear that she would have to wait till his lunch break or that he couldn't stay too long when he got there.

Stepping in the lobby, the red head cut to the elevators and went to hit the 'up' button just as it opened. A man by the name of Seiryu went to step out, almost bumping into him.

"Shuiichi….nice to see you." The man said when he recognized him.

"Hello Seiryu." Kurama said.

"How's Shori doing?" The man asked, placing his body against the doors so they wouldn't close.

"She's fine, considering…..." Kurama said with a soft smile.

Seiryu was the man who Shori had gotten interested in a few years ago. He was the one who the red head had went out of his way for to dig out the Mahjong set from his old bedroom and bring it over in the pouring rain.

"Well I'm glad. I told her not to go down to the boiler room with me. It's always damp and moldy down there, but she's a stubborn lady. I was afraid her emphysema would kick back up." Seiryu said.

"That's strange…mother didn't tell me she was the one who…." Kurama said, realizing now what maybe causing his mother's cough.

"Oh." Seiryu's eyes widened some as he seemed to realize he'd made a mistake in telling the young man. "I better let you go, seems we've gathered a crowd." He quickly added and moved aside to let a couple get on the elevator.

Kurama gave a nod and stepped in as well.

"Nice seeing you." Seiryu said as the doors closed.

Reaching his mother's door, Kurama gave a knock while opening it. "Mother, I'm here." He called out. Seeing her sitting on the couch with the papers from the day before scattered out on the coffee table again, he added. "Is something wrong, what's so important that it couldn't wait till this evening?"

Not looking up, Shori started in. "This just doesn't make any sense to me." She huffed, slamming the paper she had been holding down.

"What doesn't make sense?" Kurama asked as he came over.

"The old inspection records…the latest one said that this wasn't the first offense, but all the others forms before that say 'everything is fine.' I can't understand it…no one still has seen anything out of the ordinary…no rats…mice…cockroaches…bats…faulty wiring, lead paint….."

"Mother." Kurama said softly. Shori started coughing and the red head waited until she composed herself. "I ran into Seiryu on the way up." He said.

This earned him a glare, but Kurama focused his attention on the papers. "What were you thinking, sneaking off to the boiler room with a man like that?" He asked casually.

Her eyebrows rose. "I knew he wasn't the type to keep a secret." She muttered.

"The next time you go down there, would you please remember to wear your mask." He said, still not looking at her.

"I will...I just wasn't thinking." She said as a way of an apology.

"Did the doctor at least prescribe you something until your appointment?" The red head asked.

"Yes…I took a cab to the drugstore the other day to pick it up." She said, deciding to tell him the truth.

"Good." Kurama said and the room went quiet. He sat there and thought about his mother's actions. He took her out 99 percent of the time for shopping, appointments or just for fun. She only took a cab, or asked a friend, the other 1 percent when she was trying to hide something.

They finally made eye contact and Kurama was the first to break the silence. "The next time you need a suggestion on a good dating place, let me know. I'm sure I can think of a more romantic place." He said with a smile and there was a glint in his green eyes. Thus his way of saying he would drop the subject.

Shori smiled and gave a nod.

"Now, why did you need to see me?" He asked, getting the subject back on track.

"We need to go to Capital City and see the original inspections letters." Shori said holding up a sheet that was two thirds blackened out by a marker. "These copies they sent don't tell me a blasted thing."

"I told you I can't go till this weekend." Kurama said.

"But are they open on Saturdays." She asked, placing the paper back on the table.

"Yes mother….I placed a call yesterday and they are open ten till two. I can leave early enough and get there right when they open." Kurama said.

"Okay, but I hate waiting that long." Shori said.

"I know, but I really can't take the time off work right now." Kurama said, looking at his watch. "I need to go. Was that all you needed?" He asked, getting up.

Just as he hit the door, he heard his mother say. "Is Hiei working today?" And he turned back around to see her with the remote in her hand, turning up the volume on the TV.

"Yes." He said and walked back over, looking at the TV.

A news crew was reporting live from the scene of an accident involving a power line worker. Green eyes saw the 51 number on the side of the rescue truck and immediately began scanning the firemen, knowing exactly which one was Hiei. Tuning out the reporter, the red head tried to keep his eyes on the small figure and he almost started growling out in frustration when the camera moved to focus on other things.

He and Shori both gasped with the crowd when they saw the safety line being cut and watched as it almost hit Hiei. Both breathing easier when the situation looked to be under control and all were back on the ground, Kurama looked to his mother and said. "I have to go, but I'll stop back in this evening."

When he hit the door, Shori called out. "There's no need." She had seen her son's face when he'd seen Hiei on the TV and saw in his eyes the concern and fear he had had for the man. Shuiichi needed to be with Hiei tonight, not her.

The red head paused at the tone in her words. Turning back to look at her, her eyes were still glued to the TV, but she continued. "I forgot to tell you, I made plans with Seiryu, so I won't be here." She finally looked at him and there was a glint in her eyes.

Shaking his head with a smile, Kurama said. "Have a good time. I'll call you tomorrow."

a)a)a)a

Later that evening, Hiei turned up the volume on his alarm clock radio before proceeding to undress. It had been one hell of a day. Not only were his nerves on edge because of the possibility of someone coming to 'observe him', he was also on the down hill slide of an adrenaline rush from the rescue earlier that day.

'Now that would have been something for them to see.' He thought as he stepped naked into the bathroom and cranked the water to max. He then stepped out to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, which he drained in just a few gulps on his way back to the bathroom. Sitting the empty bottle on the sink, the black haired stepped in the now 'very' hot shower and sighed.

Hiei stood still, letting the water cascade over him as he tried to relax. After a few minutes, his mind cleared and he started thinking about a certain red head. He needed to call Kurama and let him know that he had come home instead of going to the loft. He'd went to call the red head last night and tell him he would be late, but checked his messages first and got the news the man was canceling. Kurama hadn't made it over to the beach house last night either, nor have they've had a chance to talk today. With Kurama putting in so many hours at work, not to mention him helping in his mother's quest, it was eating his days away and with he himself working evening and weekends. They just haven't had the time to spend together lately.

Finishing up with washing his hair, Hiei gave it one last rinse and was just about to turn off the water when he felt a blast of cool air. Wiping water from his eyes, the short figure went to turn, only to feel arms wrap around his waist.

"Please tell me I haven't fallen asleep in the shower and dreaming?" He muttered, realizing who it was and melting into the embrace.

"You haven't…I'm here." He heard next to his ear.

"Good." Hiei replied as he turned into the embrace, bringing his arms up to wrap around the taller figure's waist.

"And I'm sorry." Kurama whispered giving the top of the wet head a kiss.

Hiei didn't say anything, knowing Kurama was just apologizing for not coming over last night. He would ask the red head why he wasn't with his mother and tell him the other stuff later, right now, he was just happy to be held.

With the water turning cold, Kurama reached over to turn it off and chuckled as Hiei didn't let go, but bent with him instead. The red head then pulled the curtain back and went to step out.

Hiei let go long enough to let Kurama step out and then moved his arms up to wrap around the red head's neck.

He then proceeded to plant a kiss to the pale lips only to have Kurama take control and plunder his mouth, i.e. meaning Kurama was going to do all the work. Feeling hands on the back of his thighs, the black haired lifted his legs up and wrapped them around the lean waist, locking his ankles. Burying his wet head into the red head's shoulder, Kurama groped his rear as he stumbled out of the tight space of the bathroom to step into the bedroom. They stopped at the foot of the bed, their growing erections rubbing against each other as Kurama continued to grope his rear and kiss him again.

The music was still playing, though it had been turned down and neither one of them said anything about turning it off as Kurama continued to explore his mouth. This time when they broke apart, Hiei moved to nip and lick along Kurama's jaw, neck and shoulder, knowing this would send sparks down the red head's body.

_**(Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breath out, breathe in…)**_

Kurama let out a gasp at the sensations he was feeling, including Hiei's hard erection rubbing against his. Afraid of dropping his lover, the red head bent forward and deposited the smaller figure on the bed. Pulling back to look in the red eyes, green eyes saw nothing but desire and pure lust clouding them. Laying his taller body along the top of the smaller one, he proceeded to kiss, nip and lick the water droplets clinging to his small lover. Starting along the jaw line, he worked his way down the neck, paying particular attention to the Adam's apple. Suckling on it for a moment, he then continued across a shoulder before moving down and noticed goose bumps appearing all over Hiei's body. He heard the man gasping and felt the body start to squirm under him as his breath ghost over a nipple. Small hands kneaded his back as he, lightly, bit down on it.

_**(Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breath out, breathe in…)**_

Hiei was panting and began squirming as he felt Kurama take one of his nipples in his mouth. The feeling became too much and he brought his hands around to stop the torture, only to end up having his wrists grabbed and his arms held down on either side of his shoulders.

_**(Tied to a wheel, fingers got to feel...Bleeding through a tourniquet smile)**_

He gasped and arched his back as his other nipple was tortured like the first. The mouth torture seemed to last forever until he felt the wet tongue move down his chest and lick around his belly button before moving further down his pelvic area. He opened his eyes and watched the red head as he blew lightly along his pubic hair then lick at his scrotum.

Hiei bent his legs up and spread them, giving the invitation to precede and Kurama began planting kisses along the inside of his thighs, deliberately avoiding his pulsing cock.

_**(I spin on a whim, I slide to the right…I felt you like electric light)**_

Red eyes squeezed tightly shut and he hadn't even realized his arms were free until his hands subconsciously grabbed a hold of red hair just as his erection was, without warning, taken deep into Kurama's mouth.

_**(For our love…For our fear…For our rise against the years and years and years)**_

Gods, it had to be a dream. It'd been so long since Kurama had taken him and he was in nirvana as the mouth bobbed up and down on his cock.

_**(Got a machinehead it's better than the rest…Green to red…machinehead)**_

_**(Got a machinehead it's better than the rest…Green to red)**_

_**(And I walk from my machine…I walk from my machine)**_

So engrossed in the pleasures from the blow-job, he didn't pay much attention to the lubed finger probing for entrance until a second one went to join the first and he arched his back again, head bent back into the bed, hands gripping the bed sheets as he let out a cry of both pleasure and pain. He was so afraid to open his eyes right now, so afraid this dream would end. It had been months since he felt those fingers and couldn't wait knowing that something bigger would soon take their place.

_**(Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breath out, breathe in…)**_

The mouth on his cock moved faster, along with the fingers inside him, and he began panting so hard, he thought he was going to hyperventilate.

_**(Deaf, dumb and thirty...Starting to deserve this)  
**_

Just when he thought he wasn't going to last much longer, the suckling stopped, the fingers left him and he opened his red eyes to see Kurama on his knees between his legs, staring at him.

_**(Leaning on my conscience wall)**_

Giving a nod that he was ready, Hiei lifted his hips, allowing Kurama a better angle to sheath himself. Neither one moved until Hiei relaxed his legs around the red head's waist and he began lifting his hips to match the downward thrusts.

_**(Blood is like wine...Unconscious all the time)**_

Kurama leaned over, claiming his tender lips and he just couldn't help but tangle his hands in those red locks as his let his rear and mouth be plundered as one.

_**(If I had it all again…I'd change it all)**_

They both gasped, breaking the kiss and the sounds of wet, mixed with sweat, drenched skin slapping together filled the room as Kurama quickened his pace. Hiei could tell the red head was nearing his peak and grabbed his own erection, pumping it in time with the thrusts.

_**(Got a machinehead it's better than the rest…Green to red… machinehead)**_

_**(Got a machinehead it's better than the rest…Green to red)**_

Hiei watched Kurama's, eyes closed, face. The red head was concentrating. Bucking his hips in deep quick thrusts as he tried to hit the black haired's spot with everyone. His sweating lips were slightly parted as he grunted with the effort and red locks of hair were plastered to his face by sweat and water. Hiei felt hands reach for his small ankles and he help guide them so they rested along the red head's shoulders. The thrusting deepened and right when Hiei felt he couldn't hold out any longer, hands grabbed his thighs tightly as Kurama buried himself deep inside him.

_**(And I walk from my machine...I walk from my machine)**_

Feeling the red head's release in his tight passage, the black haired lost it and tossing his head back, let out a deep, horsed groan as he coated his hand, stomach and even the red head's stomach with his release. The room went blurry and he had to remember how to breathe as he took in deep, shuddering breaths in an attempt to control his racing heart.

_**(Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breath out, breathe in…breathe in…breathe in)**_

Hiei felt Kurama fall down beside him and rolled to his side, facing him. Licking his lips, he waited until focused green eyes looked at him before whispering. "Missed you."

_**(Got a machinehead it's better than the rest…Green to red…machinehead)**_

_**(Got a machinehead it's better than the rest…Green to red)**_

Green eyes looked at him in confusion, but after a moment, Kurama seemed to understand the underlying meaning of what Hiei was saying and gave a nod in understanding. Leaning in, the red head placed a kiss on pale lips and said. "I'm sor….."

Before the word could be finished, Hiei placed a finger on Kurama's lips and shook his head. Basically saying, 'no apology needed.'

_**(It's better than the rest…yeah it's better than the rest…machinehead) **_

Nothing more was said as the two moved up and managed to get under the sheet, both too tired to take another shower. Hiei managed to turn off the lamp and the radio before positioning himself so Kurama could lay his head on his chest. The two succumbed to sleep within minutes.

_**(And I walk from my machine…I walk from my machine)**_

Sometime during the night, Hiei awoke to the feeling of weight on his thighs and he lay still as he felt himself being filled, again, with Kurama's cock. Too tired to move, the black haired let the red head have his way. Kurama moved slow and gentle above him. If he knew Hiei was awake, he didn't say anything and when Hiei began pushing back some. He received kisses along his shoulders and an arm snaked under his waist to help lift him up some. When Kurama finished, he slipped out and laid down, right on top of the smaller figure. Hiei just let out a blissful sigh and fell back asleep.

End Chapter 5

Lyrics to the song: **_MachineHead _-** by: _Bush_


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you…

Chapter 6

A few days later found Hiei getting his mail out of his post office box at the local Post Office. Quickly flipping through it, he saw the usual bills, credit card offers and magazines, only to freeze when he saw a white envelope. It was from The Services of Northern Yama.

'Damn.' He thought, shoving the envelope back in the stack. No one had shown up to 'observe him', that he knew of, and even though Yusuke keep saying 'give it a few more days.' He just knew it was a 'Sorry, we changed our minds and will not be coming after all' letter.

Walking out in the rain, he got in his car, throwing the stack of mail on the passenger's seat. It was his day off and he'd decided to visit his sister. He'd come to realize a long ago, if he made it a point to visit once a week or so, he wouldn't get hounded so much about avoiding his twin, not to mention his niece and nephew.

Pulling into the driveway, the black haired saw Kuwabara's truck, but the van was gone. Getting out, he headed to the front door and gave a knock as he entered. "Kuwabara." He called out.

"He's not here." Yukina said, coming down the hall.

"Oh…I saw the truck and just assumed…." Hiei went to say.

Yukina cocked her head and with a smirk finished his sentence. "That I wasn't here." Seeing his look, she said innocently. "I'm only joking. Kazuma took the van. The kids had the day off because of some teacher's planning lesson, something or other, so he took the kids and some of their friends to Chuck N' Cheese since it's raining.

'More like Chuck Your Cheese.' Hiei thought as he followed Yukina into the kitchen. He never understood how parents could take their kids to a place where they would gorge themselves on pizza. Then, so the parents could talk, told the kids to go play, only to turn around and see little 'Billy' throwing up all over the place. He vowed never to be seen in that place again, one birthday party was one too many, thank you very much.

"So how's it going?" Yukina asked, breaking his thoughts.

"The same."

"Oh really….so…nothing exciting has happened since the last time I talk to you." She said, blinking her eyelashes and giving him 'that' smile as she set the sugar on the table.

"Like what?" He asked, knowing all too well that 'that' smile meant something was up.

"Oh like…has anyone important stopped by the station…say, in the past week?" She asked with her back facing him.

"Damn." Hiei muttered, knowing she had somehow found out.

"Now don't get to upset with him. Yusuke only told Kazuma and Chu so they wouldn't hound you about your mood swings." Yukina said, placing a cup of tea on the table in front of him then taking the moment to stare at him with her matching red eyes.

Something barely peeking out from under her brother's tank top, near his collar bone, caught her attention, but just as her hand moved up to pull the shirt aside, it was smacked away.

"Do you mind?" Hiei growled out, tugging his shirt back into place.

Yukina tried not to laugh as she turned her back to him. "Nice to see you finally found some time to spend with Kurama." She said through a smile. "At least it better of been Kurama who did that." She added.

"Hn." Hiei said, trying hard no to blush as he rubbed a hand over his shoulder. Seems he's been doing that a lot lately, the blushing that is.

"So…have you heard anything?" She asked as she took her seat across from him with her cup of tea.

"No one's shown up. At least I don't think they have." Hiei said.

"I don't understand."

"Yusuke said they sounded like they wanted it to be 'unannounced', but I don't see how I wouldn't of found out." Hiei said with a shrug, though his mind was wondering if he should mention the envelope.

With each taking a sip of tea, the room fell silent. Yukina took the time to study her brother again. He looked tired, stressed and just plain miserable.

"What's bothering you Hiei?" She finally asked. She'd wanted to ask for awhile now, but had let it drop.

"Nothing." He said, looking up at her.

"Is it Kurama?" She asked, taking a sip of tea.

"NO!" He growled, but could understand way she would think that. The past few times he had made it a point to stop in and visit. He had maybe let it slip a little and complained about how little time he's been able to spend with the red head as of late.

Ignoring his outburst, she asked. "How's his mother?"

"Fine…I guess." He said with another shrug.

"Well then…is it something to do with this person coming to 'observe you?'" She asked using the quote symbols like her husband had when he told her the story.

"Maybe." He whispered. "I don't know." Red eyes found a spot on the floor and they decided it was a really interesting spot at the moment.

"You never told me what Kurama thought about you possibly getting this job." She said softly.

"I don't know what he thinks." Hiei said honestly. After the argument about the questionnaire, nothing more had been said about it, well, only that the red head said he had mailed it back. But, that had been said casually in the middle of another conversation.

'Damn.' Hiei cursed, mentally kicking himself. He still hasn't told Kurama about the person coming…maybe coming.

"Do you think you'll accept it?" She said, getting up and going for the teapot.

"Why does everyone automatically assume I'm going to get this job?" Hiei huffed, holding out his cup to be topped off.

Yukina retook her seat. "From what you've told me brother, this is your dream job. It's everything you've ever wanted to do…it's all those training courses you've taken, all rolled into one." She paused, looking at him as he studied the floor. "You've been wanting to get out of this town for years. Saying all the time there's not enough excitement around here. I know you stayed at first because of me, but I have Kazuma and I like it here. I made a life here and now you deserve that same chance." She finally stopped, taking in a deep breath.

Hiei took a deep breath as well before saying. "I know that and it's always been something I've wanted, but…" He paused and finally looked at her with his thoughts straying. No one still believes him when he tells them he didn't apply for this job, doesn't that in it self sound just a little fishy. He hasn't been looking for a different job in over a year, why, because maybe.

"Kurama." She said with a nod.

The black haired just shrugged, looking back at the floor. His sister always seemed to know what he was thinking.

"Are you in love with him?"

"I…I don't know…maybe." He whispered.

"What do you mean, 'maybe'?" She huffed. "It's been almost two years and I know it's not loyalty to the station. You've never had a problem leaving all the other jobs up till this one. Though I must admit, this has been the longest you've stayed at any given job. So then what or 'who' else could it be?"

When Hiei didn't answer, Yukina continued. "I know in the years that we've been here, you thought there was no one here for you because you're gay. You automatically assumed since this is a small town that you would be discriminated and all. But I think you did find that 'special' someone. I think at first you thought you'd found it in Jin and in a way still have feelings for him, though why…I don't know, especially after the way he…" Seeing the sadness forming in Hiei's eyes, she moved on. "Anyways, you'd given up all hope and then out of the blue you came upon a car accident and met, if I may say…one gorgeous red head." She smiled out the last part.

"Yukina!" Hiei stammered as his eyes went wide and his mouth fell open.

"Well." She said, licking her lips. "It's true. Can I help it if I've always had a thing for red heads? Seriously though, did you ever ask Kurama what he thinks? You never know, he just might up and go with you. I know he likes his job here, but maybe he could move within the company. Maybe he's just as sick of his job as you are of yours. I'm sure there has to be 'something' up there for him. And if he cares for you as much as I think you do for him then surely you two can work something out."

"I don't know. It doesn't matter." Hiei said, shaking his head. "I'm not going to get it." He said for the hundredth time as he stood up and went to the sink where he dumped his 'cold' tea down the drain. Rinsing the cup out, he muttered. "Don't even have to open the letter to know what it's says."

"Letter?" Yukina said, looking at his back. "What letter?" She said again, getting up with her cup and dumping the contents in the sink.

"What." He said, turning to look at her in confusion.

"Letter, you said something about opening a letter. Did you receive one from them?" She asked, rinsing out her cup and placing it in the drying rack besides his.

Hiei started thinking, fast. "Oh…I was just saying I'll know the rejection letter word for word." He gave her a false smile. "It's not like I haven't gotten them before…many times."

"Did you get a letter?" She said firmly.

"Yes, but…" Hiei started to say.

"Yes, but what…don't lie to me."

Realizing he needed to say 'something', he decided to tell a little white lie. "I didn't get it until late last night. I was tired and forgot all about it until just now." He said, might as well dig a little deeper, he'd already dug out one shovel full, why not a few more.

"So how do you know what it says, maybe they're just asking for some more information, maybe it says when they're coming. Do you have it with you?"

"No…I left it on the table at the beach house." He blurted out. The hole was getting deeper, fast. Maybe he should just jump in and bury himself now.

Yukina looked at him like she didn't quite believe him. Placing her hand on her hips, she just stood there, shaking her head and when he only blinked at her…

"Hiei Jaganshi!" She also seemed to know when he was lying.

Seeing the look in her eyes, Hiei stepped around her, saying. "I gotta go." And made a beeline straight for the door. Not looking back as he cleared the porch and got in the car. He didn't even look to see if she was standing on the porch as he rounded the corner.

a)a)a)a

Hiei pulled the Sprite into the garage of the warehouse. Turning off the ignition, he just sat there looking at the mail on the seat beside him. Knowing he was going to have to explain it to Yukina and tell Yusuke that all the 'hype' was over. But most of all just wanting to 'get it over with', he reached for the envelope and slid a finger under the flap. It was only one page, typed.

Red eyes scanned the words and black eyebrows rose with each line they read. "Well I'll be damned." He muttered.

Starting the car and backing out, he headed west. There was someone who had to see this.

a)a)a)a

Turning onto a gravel road, the Sprite crawled its way down the bumping driveway towards a modest, two story farmhouse that sat several hundred yards off the main road. Yusuke and his wife Keiko had bought the house and land at a foreclosure auction and then rented out the farming land to the neighboring farmers on either side of them.

Clearing the last of the trees, Hiei saw Yusuke in the front yard pushing a lawnmower. He was shirtless and his normally tan body was drenching with sweat which was trickling down his muscular chest, disappearing into his cutoff blue jeans.

Hiei turned in and parked next to the Urameshi's van. As he got out, he heard the engine cut off on the lawnmower then Yusuke calling out.

"Hiei" The raven haired said, pulling out a wash cloth to wipe his face. "To what do I owe the pleasure of you stopping by? You don't even like to show up when I do invite you."

"Hn."

Smiling at the usual response from the black haired and seeing the envelope in the man's hand, Yusuke asked in a serious tone. "What's up?"

"Here." Hiei said, holding out the envelope.

"What is it?" Yusuke asked, drying his hand before taking it. Flipping it over so he could see the front of it, he said. "Another letter, what's it say?"

"Read it." Hiei said, folding his arms.

"Well, it must be important or you would of waited until tomorrow to show it to me." Yusuke said, taking out the piece of paper as he headed towards the front stoop. Taking a seat, he unfolded it and began reading, mumbling as his eyes scanned the words.

"Liked what we saw…showed real leadership skills…handle pressure…think quickly on your feet….yada yada yada." The raven haired let out a low whistle when he was done. "Wow." He added with a smile, handing the letter back. "Sounds like someone's blowing sunshine up your ass."

"What I'm trying to figure out is 'when were they here'." Hiei said folding the letter and sticking it back in the envelope.

"When did you get that?" Yusuke asked.

"It was with my mail this morning." Hiei answered.

"Well then, it had to of been this past week." The raven haired said, thinking.

"It's been a slow few weeks." Hiei said looking at the ground as he also began thinking.

"We had that house fire over on Crest." Yusuke said.

"There was the car accident on Fifth." Hiei said. "But they were nothing out of the ordinary. Both of those weren't that serious." He muttered.

They looked at each other and said at the same time. "The power line worker."

Yusuke looked at the ground, saying. "Sneaky little bastards, weren't they?"

Hiei just nodded.

"Well, you did handle that one pretty much on your own." Yusuke said. "You're the one who came up with the plan to get the guy down."

"There was a crowd and the press there." Hiei muttered.

"So what are you going to do?" Yusuke asked.

"I don't know." Hiei said, looking at his captain.

"They've invited you up to see the place and do a one on one interview." Yusuke said.

"Yeah, this weekend, but…" Hiei went to say, looking at the envelope in his hands. That wasn't much notice, plus he was supposed to work.

"You have the leave." Yusuke said.

"I know, but…" Hiei started.

"But what…go." Yusuke said, standing up.

Hiei just looked up at him, his face void of expression.

"Mitarai could use the experience, Kuwabara won't mind." The raven haired finished.

"Are you sure?" Hiei asked, getting up.

"Yep, go take some time off." Yusuke said. He went to walk back over to the lawnmower, but something on Hiei's shoulder, just under his shirt, next to his collar bone made him add. "You know, you should ask Kurama to go with you."

"What?" Hiei said, looking at him in confusion, red eyes blinking.

"I know I would want Keiko to go with me. Of course we would have to get a babysitter and all. Yeah, I sure do miss those days when we could just up and leave. Then everywhere we would stay, we would have sex in every room. Yep, sure miss those times, walking around naked whenever we wanted to." The raven haired cocked a smug smile. "Giving each other 'hickys'."

A small hand automatically came up to pull at the tank top. "I gotta go." Hiei said, walking towards the car.

Yusuke busted out laughing, noticing Hiei turning pink. "We'll talk some more in the morning." He hollowed, restarting the mower with a smile on his face and a tear in his eye.

a)a)a)a

With nothing else to do for the rest of the day, Hiei went back to Kurama's loft. First, he thought about working on the jeep, but he was kind of in a holding pattern because he needed parts. Next, he tried reading, but again found his mind not understanding the words. Finally getting in the refrigerator for a drink, the black haired decided to cook. Looking at the clock, he took note of how long he had until Kurama came home. Grabbing a pen and paper, he made a list before heading out to do a little grocery shopping.

Just before dark, Kurama pulled his Z into the garage, noting the Sprite. Getting out, the red head made his way up the metal staircase to the loft. Not even bothering to fish out his keys, he opened the door to a strong smell of cooking.

"Mmm." Kurama moaned, closing the door. "That smells wonderful." He added as he walked over to deposit his briefcase on the desk.

"Good…that means you're hungry." Hiei said, not looking up from the stove as he tossed the frying food in the wok.

"What made you decide to do this?" Kurama asked walking passed the dinning room table that was already decorated with place settings for two. There were even two black tapered candles and a single red rosebud in a vase sitting in the middle of the table. The red head leaned over the smaller figure, hugging him around the waist and looking at the food.

"Got bored." Hiei answered, slipping passed the red head to grab a bottle of Asian sauce. Twisting the cap off to pour some in, he continued. "Did my brotherly duty earlier and I can't do anymore on the jeep until I get those parts." He paused as he tossed the food again.

"Oh, about that, I've been meaning to tell you I have the word out. Just waiting to hear back." Kurama said, leaning against the counter since it seemed Hiei had everything covered.

Hiei took out a large platter to dump the contents of the wok on then grabbed two pre- made salads out of the refrigerator. Sitting them on the table, he announced. "Dinner is served." He then stepped over and pulled out a chair, offering it to the red head.

Kurama pushed off the counter with a smile, slipping off his suit jacket as he walked over to take the offered chair. When he was seated, he rolled his sleeves as Hiei sat the platter down and took his own chair.

"Looks wonderful, thank you." Kurama said, dishing some food out on his plate.

"We haven't had a real dinner together in awhile so…" Hiei shrugged, accepting the offered platter.

"How did you know when I would be home?" Kurama asked, placing a cloth napkin on his lap.

"I called Shori and told her to call me when you left." Hiei said.

Kurama smiled. "I wondered why she was in such a hurry to get me out the door."

"She sounds good, how's she doing?" Hiei asked. "I need to get over there and see her."

"She's…better and she would be thrilled to have you over. She's been wanting to kick our butts in Mahjong for awhile now." The red head laughed.

Silence filled the room as the two ate. Hiei kept looking up every so often as well as Kurama, but the two stayed silent.

Hiei was the first to break the silence. "I've been meaning to tell you a few things."

"Oh." Kurama said, looking up. "Me too."

"You first." They said as one, causing both to chuckle and shake their heads at how silly that had been.

"Go ahead." Kurama said, taking a bite of food.

"Okay." Hiei said.

Green eyes watched as Hiei's hand moved to a white envelope laying beside his plate. The red head had noticed it when he saw the table setting, but the envelope was face down and he couldn't see if there was any writing on it.

Hiei's fingers drummed over the paper, the black haired seemed to be nerves.

Kurama took another bite of food and waited, though he was starting to get a dreaded feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"I…I heard from The Emergency Services of Northern Yama." Hiei finally said.

Kurama paused, chopsticks holding a bite of food. He casually sat them down and wiped his mouth with the napkin. "Oh." He said, reaching for his glass of water. "They received the questionnaire then." He commented.

Hiei's hand moved off the envelope to grab his water, finding his mouth dry all of a sudden. "Yeah." He said, taking a drink. "I assume, but they did call Yusuke a few days ago and told him they were sending someone down to observe me at work."

Red eyebrows rose, but Kurama maintained his composure. "Sounds promising." He said, getting ready to take another bite, but sat the chopsticks down again as his stomach flipped. "Do you know when?" He said, going again for his water glass.

"Well, apparently they've already seen me in action. The other day we got a call about a power line worker…"

Kurama looked up at him, finishing the sentence. "Who apparently had a seizure of some sort and fell out of his apple picker."

"Yeah…how…?" Hiei wondered.

"I was at mother's when it happened. Saw it live on TV." Kurama said, going back to looking at his plate.

"Oh." Hiei said, nodding. There had been a news crew there, but he never really paid attention to them. "Well, anyways…I got this letter this morning saying they liked what they saw and they've invited me up to visit the place...the future facilities."

Knowing something like this was going to happen one day, Kurama was not surprised, maybe taken off guard a little, but not surprised. He had thought Hiei was happy here, but apparently he still wanted out of this lack luster town.

Hiei watched for Kurama's reaction, but couldn't tell one way or the other what the red head was thinking. He was just staring at his plate.

"I guess congratulations are in order." Kurama finally said, holding up his water glass and giving the black haired a firm nod.

Hiei cocked his head, but reached for his glass and tapped it to the red head's.

"I want you to come with me." Hiei said after taking a sip.

"When?" Kurama said, placing his glass back on the table.

"This weekend…I was thinking since we never got around to that little getaway you mentioned awhile back, we could…"

"I can't." Kurama said softly.

"I have it all worked out. We can leave Friday when you get off work and then you could come back Sunday night. I'll have to stay until Monday to meet them, but I can be back…"

"I said, I can't." Kurama said a little louder, placing his napkin on the table.

"Is it work…?" Hiei began to say, tossing his napkin on the table as well.

Still staring at the table, Kurama's voice softened. "I need to do something for mother."

"What." Hiei asked, really wanting the red head to look at him.

"She's asked me to go to Capital City, to the Hall of Records. I have been putting it off. I finally told her I would do it this weekend." Kurama said, fingering the cloth napkin.

There was silence as Hiei thought it over. "We can still make it work." He said, coming up with an idea. "We can leave early Friday morning, stop in Capital City, get what you need and be in Yama by early evening. You can still come back Sunday…"

"I have to work Friday." Kurama said.

"But then…" Hiei didn't understand.

"The Hall of Records is open ten till two on Saturdays." The red head informed.

"Then we can leave Friday evening. Get to Capital City Friday night and go to records first thing Saturday morning and be in Yama that evening." Hiei said, thinking. "You can still come back Sunday and…"

Kurama cut him off. "I'm sorry Hiei, but mother is expecting me to go straight up and come straight back with the information I find. Like I said, I've put it off and we can't…"

"She can wait till Sunday. It's just one day." Hiei said, maybe a little too harshly, for Kurama cringed at his tone. The black haired, however didn't see it as he had gotten up with his plate and went to dump his un-eaten food in the trash.

"Aren't you supposed to work this weekend?" Kurama asked, still staring at the table.

"I've already talked to Yusuke and he told me to go. I have the leave and Mitarai could use the experience." Hiei said, placing his plate in the sink. Red eyes looked over at the red head. "Yusuke was the one who suggested I ask you along."

Kurama nodded somberly as he got up with his plate of food, but instead of throwing it in the trash. He got out a container and began dumping it in. "Yusuke did…I see." Was all he muttered, placing the lid on the food and putting it in the refrigerator.

Hiei had started rinsing off the dishes. "Well." He asked when Kurama didn't say anymore, just went over to blow out the candles and clear the table.

"I'm sorry…I can't, mother…" Kurama went to say as he came over with the placemats, brushing them off before sticking them in a drawer.

Hiei placed a plate in the dishwasher with a grumbled huff. "Fine…I'll be leaving Friday morning then and I should be back late Monday."

"Hiei." Kurama said softly, knowing he had upset the black haired, but also knowing his mother had always come first. When Hiei looked over at him, he said. "You would do it for your mother."

"Hn." Hiei huffed, placing more dishes in the dishwasher. "I wouldn't know would I, since my mother's dead."

"Yukina then." Kurama said, moving over, for some reason wanting to hold the small figure.

Remembering his sister's earlier statement about having someone to look after her, Hiei said. "She has Kuwabara." He finished drying his hands and turned to look at the red head, who was standing beside him.

Something in Hiei's tone made Kurama snap. The red head took a step back and with a harsh tone said. "I see. With Kuwabara looking after your sister…must make it easier for you." Green eyes narrowed.

Red eyes blinked. 'What the hell?' Hiei thought, taking his own step back as he saw anger in those 'pretty' green eyes. "Easier." He whispered.

"Since Yukina has someone to look after her, you have no responsibilities to anyone." Kurama said, walking away. "I have work to do."

Again, red eyes just blinked as the red head walked away, but anger seeped in at the words and what he thought they meant. "Your right. I don't think about anyone but myself, to hell with everyone else." He said, grabbing his keys off the counter. "And since I don't seem to be needed anymore." He headed towards the door where he let it slam shut behind him.

Kurama paused in front of his desk. Letting out a big sigh, he thought. 'Why did I say that?' He hadn't meant to upset the man, just wanted him to realize that 'his' mother was all he had left. Yukina had Kuwabara and her brother. The red head had no one but his mother, until Kuronue, but he died. Again, leaving him with just his mother and he would do everything he could to keep her with him.

Maybe he was upset with the fact that Hiei seemed happy about the possibility of getting this job. That it was Yusuke who suggested he go along. That the blacked haired didn't seem to think about 'what' or 'who' he would leave behind, his sister, himself and even Shori. Who'd come to accept him like a son, just like she had Kuronue.

'_Since I don't seem to be needed anymore.' _That thought made the red head cringe. Did Hiei think he was just some object, a convenience when needed, but then pushed aside when not?

Hiei was anything but selfish. His job called for him to put his own life on the line to save others. He's done more than tempted and tested that risk over the years. And now that he thought about it, Hiei had been asking about Shori every time they had a chance to talk.

Kurama let out a dull moan, trying to absorb all the ramped thoughts running through his head. The black haired had been at his side for almost two years now, giving his all and only wanting to be accepted in return. Something the small figure had never done before because he'd never been in a real relationship. He thought he had found it in Jin, but it turned out Jin had been using him. Maybe it was his own fault. Maybe the red head was still being cautious because Kuronue had left him and he was afraid to get too close to Hiei because deep down he knew the black haired would leave him. That it was only a matter of time so way put too much effort into a relationship that you had already doomed say.

Cursing himself, the red head walked over and opened the door. Stepping out on the landing overlooking the garage, he saw the Sprite gone. He didn't know why he thought Hiei would still be here. Maybe it was just a moment of hope that the black haired would be sitting at his worktable or sitting in his car, waiting for him to come out and yell out he was 'Sorry' for everything. For his mother being dead, for his sister not having to rely on him that much anymore, but most of all telling him, 'I need you.'

Letting out another sigh, Kurama muttered. "Have a safe trip." The red head then turned and headed back in, locking the door behind him. For some reason knowing he would not see the man until sometime after he'd returned.

End Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks you for the reviews. Warning Rated **'M'**. You know these lemon spills are getting harder and harder to clean up.

Chapter 7

As usual, Hiei cursed his luck as he finally found a parking spot, half a football length away from his destination. Locking the car, he quickly made his way to the building, dodging cars and people in his hurry.

After clearing the main entrance, the black haired took note of the line waiting to get visitor's passes. He, again, cursed his luck as he stood there waiting for his turn. If he was in uniform, he would have just bypassed the whole thing, for no one seemed to question someone in uniform.

Signing his name and accepting the pass, he gave the girl behind the desk a nod of 'thanks' and headed towards the elevators. Of course all the people that had been in line ahead of him were now waiting for the same elevators to descend and take them to their destination. Seeing the lights indicating that the elevators were stopping on every floor on the way down and not wanting to get any more cozier with the people he was waiting with, the black haired decided to take the stairs, he only needed to go to the second floor.

As he turned to head to the end of the hall to get to the stairwell, red eyes noticed the gift shop and he shrugged. 'Why not?' And made a detour into the large shop.

a)a)a)a

Kurama closed his cell phone with a sigh, Mr. Takanaka had been understanding as usual as the red head explained the situation.

Turning, he headed back into the building and took the back stairs to the second floor. Giving the woman behind the large circular desk a nod as he passed, Kurama lightly knocked as he pushed open the door to room 202.

"I'm back mother." Kurama said as he stepped in the room, only to pause as the person sitting beside her in the chair looked up as the door opened.

"Hiei." The red head said, quickly composing himself at the surprise of seeing the man there. He walked over as Hiei stood up and they gave each other a hug, though Shori could tell it was stiff and uncomfortable. Her son had told her about Hiei's job opportunity and that he had gone out of town to visit the place.

"When did you get back?" Kurama asked, pulling back from the smaller figure and leaning over to give his mother a kiss on the cheek.

"Early this morning." Hiei said, re-taking his seat.

"Hiei was just telling me all about his trip dear." Shori said with a smile. "It sounds like a really nice place and the job sounds interesting."

"Really." Kurama muttered. Noticing a bag on his mother's lap and wanting to change the subject, he asked. "What's that?"

"Oh, Hiei brought me this adorable gift, here." Shori said, handing the small bag over.

The red head pulled out a small bamboo box, about four by four in size and two inches in height. Each side of the box was painted with a water coloring depicting one of the four seasons. It was the same scene of a cherry blossom tree in a field and how it would look during each season. The top of the box had a piece of paper covering the lid, which could be removed. Lifting the paper, the lid showed all the four painted season scenes in a block format. Reading the paper, it said.

_**The Four Seasons**_

By: KyoHana

4 mini hardback books, containing 25 Haikus each, written by the famous author, displayed in a limited edition, hand painted, bamboo gift box.

"Mother's favorite author." Kurama said, handing the box back.

"How did you know?" Shori asked, looking to Hiei.

The black haired shrugged as he blushed and admitted. "I've seen some of her books on your coffee table and took a guess."

Seeing the man turn pink, Shori chuckled. "Thank you dear." A harsh cough then resonated from deep in her chest causing each man to freeze as the woman tried to suppress the sound.

"Shall I get the nurse?" Kurama asked as he handed his mother a glass of water.

Shori, with a hand still covering her mouth, accepted the offer as she shook her head 'no.' Still trying to stifle the cough. She took a drink, only to choke on the water.

Hiei stood, but Kurama held up a hand, indicating he would step out and call the nurse. Just as he went to pull open the door however, Ruka stepped in.

"Okay Ms. Minamino, it's time for your…" She paused as she saw Kurama at the door and heard Shori coughing. "Seems my timing couldn't of been better." She said, stepping around the red head and going straight to the bed. "It's time for your inhaler. This should help ease the cough." The nurse began setting up the device, which consisted of a hand-held breathing tube attached to a small canister. "The doctor ordered a round of aerosol corticosteroid spray inhalers to help open up your airway. After this, we'll set you on a round of pure oxygen."

As Ruka helped Shori get started on the breathing device, Hiei reached out and patted her hand. "I have to go, I have to work tonight and there are some things I need to get done. I'll try to stop in before visitations over tonight." He headed towards the door, hearing Kurama say.

"Mother, I will be right outside."

Ruka gave the red head a nod and began getting vitals on her patient as he left the room.

Kurama followed the black haired down the short hallway to the end. He knew Hiei wasn't trying to walk away from him. They were heading in the opposite direction of the elevators.

Hiei stopped at the end of the hallway that dead ended near a plate glass, flood to ceiling window, and a few chairs.

Hiei didn't even wait for Kurama to say anything as he turned around and said.

"What happened?"

Kurama stopped short at Hiei's abrupt turn. Giving a soft nod, the red head explained, though he was still just as confused about what exactly happened the night before.

"Mother was with Seiryu yesterday. He apparently took her shopping, at her request, and she started having a coughing fit. He took her home and she used her inhaler, but it wasn't helping much. Seiryu insisted she come to the hospital, but mother refused. He finally convinced her to let the nurse on call at the front desk come up and she called for an ambulance. The hospital called me late last night and they finally admitted her early this morning. The doctor wants to run a few tests."

As Kurama talked, Hiei studied the red head and it seemed she wasn't the only one having trouble breathing. Hiei noted the tiredness in the voice, the dullness in the usually bright green eyes and the dark circles under them. Kurama's clothes looked ruffled, his hair a little out a place and he could make a good guess that the guy probably hasn't slept or eaten all day.

When Kurama finished, Hiei nodded that he understood. "I'm sorry I didn't get here until now." He said.

"You were out of town and you said you wouldn't be back until late…how did you find out anyways? I've only called my boss." Kurama wanted to know, he had planned to call the man a little while later, after he had informed his boss.

"Shizuru called Yukina and she left a message on my cell phone. I didn't get it though until I got back. I'm sorry. I could have been here earlier and…" Hiei said, running a hand through his spiky hair, flustered.

"It's okay." Kurama said, reaching out and pulling the smaller figure towards him to embrace him. Sitting his head on top of the black haired's, he muttered. "And I'm sorry, I should have called you, I had planned to after…" He took a deep breath and held on like he was hugging a stuff animal. "She'll be alright." He sighed, making Hiei wonder just who the red head was trying to convince.

Hiei pulled back and looked up at the red head. "She will be." He said. "The question is, 'will you'?"

Kurama gave a nod and continued. "It's happened before. I can't get too worked up about it though because she'll push me away. She's always been tough though, very stubborn, but tough."

"Sounds like someone I know." Hiei muttered and got, though it was tiredly forced, a smirk back.

"The doctor's already told me she'll be here for a day or two and then she can go home and continue the treatments there until she's better."

Hiei looked at his watch. "I need to call Yusuke and tell him I won't be in."

"Why?" Kurama said.

"Because you need me here." Hiei said, cocking his head and blinking his eyes, wasn't it obvious?

"There's nothing you can do, you might as well go to work. I'm going to sit with her until the end of visitation and then go home. I brought some work with me to finish up as she rests. In the morning, I'm going to drop the papers off at the office and be here when breakfast is served."

"Are you sure? I can sit with her and let you go get cleaned up, get something to eat. I can…" Hiei tired to offer.

"No, thank you. You should go ahead and pass the time at work." Kurama said, pulling him closer again, but this time was so they could kiss.

When they broke the kiss, they both heard a nervous 'excuse me' and turned to see Ruka standing behind them, a nice shade of pink adorning her cheeks.

"Sorry to interrupt, but, uh…I wanted to let you know, y-you can go back in. She still has ten minutes or so on the inhaler, but…" She was trying to sound professional, but ended up sounding like a school girl who was trying to tell the popular cute boy she had a crush on him.

"Thank you nurse." Kurama said ignoring her embarrassment and directing his attention back to Hiei. "I'm glad you're back safe."

"I'll have my phone on, I swear and if you can't get me, call the station and if that doesn't work…" Hiei began to ramble.

"Call dispatch and have you paged. I know." Kurama said, mockingly rolling his green eyes.

"Anything and I mean 'anything' she needs, you need." Hiei continued.

"Bye. I'll call you, I swear." Kurama smiled, holding up his hand in the scout's honor.

"Okay." Hiei said and leaned up to give another kiss before heading back down the hall towards the elevator. Passing Ruka, who was now back behind the desk, he noticed she was looking down the hall towards where he had just been. Red eyes followed her gaze and he saw the back of the red head looking out the window at the cloudy sky. Hiei let out a sigh and headed towards the elevators with a lot on his mind.

What Hiei didn't see was that when he walked passed Ruka. She took her attention off the red head and turned, following him with her eyes, focusing particularly on his firm rear. She bit her bottom lip in an effort to stifle a moan, but failed.

"Hurts doesn't it." Ruka jumped when she heard the statement, startled at being caught 'ogling.'

Shizuru placed a stack of folders on the desk and looked down the hall, seeing the back of the red head. She then turned in time to see the black haired stepping in the elevator.

"Yeah…it does." Ruka said softly, beginning to blush as she still looked towards the elevators. "I…uh…need to take five." She stammered and headed towards the ladies room.

a)a)a)a

"Would you like me to read to you?" Kurama asked, taking out the box of books from the gift bag and taking a seat.

Shori nodded as she breathed in through the inhaler. She's always enjoyed hearing her son's calming voice.

"Which one would you like me to start with?" The red head asked as he took out the little books, each with a jacket-cover depicting the water color painting scene for the season.

His mother shrugged, so he picked the first one on top. Opening it, he cleared his throat and his soft alto voice began to fill the room as he read.

_**Whisper of moonglow**_

_**Upon newly fallen snow**_

_**Comes Winter's Solstice**_

Kurama looked up as he heard large droplets of rain hit the window. Seeing the sky growing darker, he placed the book on the side table and pulled out the next one. "Let's think warm shall we." He said, knowing his mother preferred spring and what she called the 'Reawakening of the earth' at that time of year.

Turning a few pages, Kurama continued to read.

_**Pearlescent tears fall**_

_**Grief heavy upon Spring air**_

_**Breathes its dark magic**_

He then held the book up so she could see the watercolor scene pictured next to the words. Turning a few more pages, he said. "Oh…if I'm not mistaken I believe this is your favorite one." And read.

_**Falling Sakura **_

_**Petals of dusky pink hue**_

_**Remind me of tears**_

He, again, held up the book, showing her the picture of a cherry blossom tree losing its blossoms and he watched as his mother smiled around the piece of plastic in her mouth.

a)a)a)a

As Kurama continued to make his mother as comfortable as possible, Hiei was pulling into the parking lot of the station. Quickly shutting the car door, the black haired trotted over to the open bay, trying in vain not to drown as the sky dumped its contents.

"Look who the cat dragged back in." He heard and looked up to see Yusuke coming around the truck. "How did it go?" The raven haired asked.

"Fine…do you have a moment?" Hiei asked.

"Yeah, hey…I'm sorry to hear about Kurama's mom. Have you seen him yet or had a chance…?"

Hiei nodded. "I've seen both of them and so far everything going well."

Yusuke nodded his head while looking at the floor. He looked back up and said. "That's good, good…if you need to take off."

Hiei held up a hand. "I've already had this conversation with Kurama. Can we go to the office?"

Seeing a familiar look in the unusual red eyes, Yusuke motioned for the shorter figure to follow him. Just as they passed the kitchen door to loop around to the office, Kuwabara stepped out.

"Hey shrimp, you made it back, how's…."

Hiei cut him off. "I'll tell you everything later, need to talk to Cap a moment."

Both men stepped into the office with Yusuke motioning for Hiei to take a seat as he shut the door and took his.

"So what's up hot-shot?" He asked, placing his feet up on the desk. "Does this have anything to do with the trip?"

Hiei didn't say anything as he began to fidget in his seat. Seeing this, Yusuke dropped his feet and sat up straight in his chair. "What's wrong Hiei, you said Kurama's mother was fine, so…"

"They." Hiei tried to say, but stopped and ran a hand over his face.

"They, they who, they what?" Yusuke said, trying to understand.

"They offered me the Captain's position." Hiei finally said.

A low whistle filled the room. "Wow." Yusuke said, leaning back in his chair and lacing his fingers together on his lap.

Silence filled the room for a moment until chocolate eyes looked back up. "So when do you start?"

Hiei tried to relax and leaned back in his chair. "They want me to start a three month training program beginning next week. Then after that I would begin training others up until the resort opened." He said.

"Really." Yusuke said, not looking at him again, but at his lap as he tried to absorb the information. "So." He finally said, looking up.

"So what?" Hiei said, cocking his head.

"Are you taking it?"

"I…I don't know." Red eyes looked down and a small hand found itself twirling a loose string on black pants.

"I don't know." Yusuke huffed, throwing his hands up in the air. "What do you mean, 'I don't know'? You've been wanting a job like this for years and here it is sitting in your lap."

"That was a long time ago, things have changed and I'm not sure now is a good time to leave and…" Hiei faltered, he had looked up at the outburst, but he quickly looked back down, breaking eye contact.

"Are you finally happy here?" Yusuke asked when it appeared Hiei wasn't going to continue.

"You should have married Yukina." Hiei said with a smirk, still toying with the string on his pants. Those two did think a lot a like.

Yusuke let out a deep sigh, ignoring the remark. "I've always known it's been boring here for you. I know that's why you took all those training courses." The raven haired said softly. "I work with you almost every day and we've been through a hell of a lot. We've backed each other more times than I can count and with all that. I also think I've come to know you pretty well."

Hiei looked up and said softly. "Yeah, I feel the same way."

"So." Yusuke said, smacking his hands together as he got comfortable in his chair. "Tell Uncle Yusuke all about this place and we'll go from there."

a)a)a)a

"This is the last of it. Are you sure you have room to store it." Hiei asked as he stacked the last box.

Yukina hit the button to close the garage door. "I said it would be okay for you to store your stuff here didn't I." She said, turning to head through piles of items to get to the door. "It's not like we've ever parked our cars in here anyways." She added, allowing Hiei to pass her before she turned off the light and closed the door.

Heading over to the kitchen sink to wash her hands, Yukina dried them before speaking again. "Are you sure this is what you want to do?" She asked for the hundredth time that week.

Red eyes rolled as Hiei took his turn to wash his hands. "You're the one that told me to go live my life." He said.

"That was before, when I'd envisioned Kurama going with you." She said, slumping in a chair.

"I've done told you." Hiei started, taking a seat across from her. "His mother's still in the hospital, we've talked about it and he said he would come up and visit the first chance he got."

Silence filled the room as they took drinks from their glasses of ice tea. Both were tired from packing and moving boxes all morning from the beach house to the garage of the Kuwabara's. His sister had helped him from the very start with packing his items and getting them in storage. He had taken the rest of his leave at work, which wasn't a problem, for Mitarai had found the opportunity to work more with Kuwabara a chance to get more hands on training until he got assigned to a permanent Station. Word down the line was he might just get to stay with Station 51, since there was an opening.

"Did you tell him what you found?" Yukina said, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes."

"Did he not like the idea?" She asked.

"He has a lot on his mind right now." Hiei said, watching the ice melt in his glass as he recalled the conversation from a few nights ago

_**(flashback)**_

"_Hiei, I can't just up and leave with you, mother still needs me and they really need me at work." Kurama informed, flopping on the bed. "So there is a main branch of a bank and some large insurance company." He said, looking at the bed._

"_It's a start. I know you would probably have to start out as a teller or something, but with your talent with numbers. I'm sure you can move up to management very quickly, the same with the insurance company."_

"_Thank you for thinking of me." The red head said, getting up and starting to undress. He was exhausted after spending all day at work then several hours at the hospital until they kicked him out for the night. _

"_I know the jobs and probably the money doesn't sound all that great, but remember, Yama is giving me a cabin in the mountains just about thirty minutes or so outside of town for free. We won't have to worry about rent so…." Hiei said, watching the red head undress and trying to keep his mind off the striptease and the thoughts of what he wanted to do to that body._

"_Hiei, I said I'll try to come out as soon as I could. Maybe I can take some of my vacation and come up to have a look myself. You did say you had three months of training so you wouldn't have the time to spend with me anyways. I need to make sure mother is taken care of. Since the apartment building lost heat, I'm trying to make arrangements for her to be released into my care and I have a lead on a nurse who can spend the day with her while I went to work for a few hours." Kurama said, heading towards the bathroom. "We can talk some more later. I have to get a shower and some sleep. I'm leaving before dawn so I can get some work done before going to the hospital." _

_**(end flashback)**_

And that's pretty much how all the conversations had ended after Hiei told Kurama he had accepted the job.

In Hiei's mind the red head was completely acting nonchalant about the whole thing. Hiei thought Kurama would be happy that he had thought about him and that he had even went looking for jobs for him. The black haired knew it would take time to get things in order here and hadn't expected Kurama to come immediately, but yeah, in three months when his training was over and he was in charge of things. Then yes, he wanted Kurama to be there with him.

When Hiei had been talking to Shori, she even assumed Kurama would be joining him at some point in the near future. The black haired had gotten upbeat about hearing this news, maybe Kurama had talked to her already about it since she seemed to know about his trip and why he went.

Thinking that Kurama just needed some time, Hiei had dropped the subject and went about getting things in order for his leaving. It was Kurama who suggested he stay with him when he rented his beach house out. Hiei was expecting to stay at Yukina's, just because Kurama was hardly home right now and he didn't want to be a burden.

"Are you sure that was everything?" Yukina asked, bringing him out of his thoughts. She had gotten up and was rinsing out her glass.

"Yes." Hiei said, finishing his drink. "That was the last. The rest is being shipped and the furniture is staying, unless she wants to get rid of it."

Yukina turned around with a smile. "You know you made Shizuru the envy off all the women in that hospital and even some of the men. When word got out that you were putting the beach house up for rent." She left the statement open.

"Hn." Hiei said, getting up to put his glass in the sink. "Don't remind me." His cell phone and home phone had filled up almost overnight after word got out, with messages from people wanting to rent his place. The personal phone at the station kept ringing off the hook making everyone working on that shift cranky.

"Well, I don't think you have to worry about her getting rid of anything. She's saying she's going to leave it just like it is as a shrine to you and then make everyone jealous when she has her parties." Yukina said. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask why you chose her out of the hundreds."

"She's been needing to get away from that scum-lord." Was all Hiei said, heading towards the front door.

Yukina followed him to the door. "Will I see you before you leave?" She asked as he stepped out onto the porch.

Hiei turned to see sadness in his sister's matching red eyes. "I'm afraid not. I need to leave no later than one or so if I'm going to get there in time to get unloaded and catch some sleep before I report first thing Monday for training."

"Then this is goodbye, my brother." Yukina whispered, reaching over to give him a hug. She held tight for a moment before pulling back with grim face. "Please take care of yourself and be careful." She added.

Hiei could hear her voice cracking so he gave a firm nod and said. "You to, tell the oaf I'll kill him if…"

Yukina began to giggle. "Get out of here." She said, slapping him across the arm.

That's what he wanted to see, her smile, not her sadness. "I'll call when I get there." He said, walking over and getting in the car.

"You better." She said then called out. "Tell Kurama I'll stay with Shori until you leave tomorrow."

"She'll like that." He called back as he put the car in reverse to back out of the driveway, just then Kuwabara pulled in.

"Hey." The orange haired called out, getting out and blocking the Sprite's path. "You know it's not nice to ditch your friends when they are trying to throw you a going away party."

"I told Yusuke I didn't want one." Hiei grumbled out the window and then noticed out his side mirror the tall man was holding something.

"You missed a good time. Chu got everyone at Alaric's to do the Macarena." Kuwabara said, moving to stand by the driver's side window.

"Hn, sorry I missed that. I would have even paid to see it." Hiei said sarcastically, yet internally feeling complete satisfaction in his decision to 'not' go to the party.

Kuwabara shoved the items he was holding in the window. "Here shrimp, Cap wanted to make sure you got your hat and jacket."

"Thanks." Hiei said, tossing them in the passenger seat.

"Take care of yourself partner." Kuwabara said, holding out his hand.

Hiei looked at the appendage with a raised eyebrow before reaching his hand out the window to shake it. "Take care of my sister. I don't want to have to come back and kick your ass." He said.

"Like you ever could." His former partner said. "I'll miss working with you, you were a good partner. Take care."

"Bye." Hiei said, backing out the driveway.

a)a)a)a

Hiei stood up from the couch as soon as the door opened. It was dark out, the sun having set hours ago.

"Hey." He said, as Kurama did his routine of placing his briefcase on the desk. He had already shed his suit jacket and his sleeves were rolled.

"Hey." He heard back.

"How's she doing? I saw her this morning and she looks good." Hiei said.

"Thank you for sitting with her this morning. I got caught in a meeting and didn't get there until after lunch." Kurama said, going to the refrigerator for a drink.

"It was no problem. I was going to stop in on my way out also." Hiei shrugged, still standing near the couch.

Kurama just nodded and silence washed over the room a moment as the red head took big gulps of juice. When he finished, he said. "Mother should be released soon. I need to make plans to have a bed brought in. Also ensure the nurse I requested is available."

"That's good." Hiei said. "That's really good news."

"She's told me to give you her blessing." Kurama said, putting the juice away.

"Yukina told me to tell you that she'll sit with Shori tomorrow for awhile." Hiei said, leaving out the part 'until I leave' and silently thanking Yukina for knowing him so well.

_**(How the hell did we wind up like this? Why weren't we able? To see the signs that we missed and try to turn the tables.)**_

The awkwardness in the room grew intense. Hiei thought it had been bad when they'd first been at his beach house, but this was ridicules. Here they had been in a relationship for almost two years, talked openly about many things and now the two were acting like they were on a blind date.

_**(I wish you'd unclench your fists and unpack your suitcase. Lately there's been too much of this. Don't think it's too late.)**_

Kurama seemed to be lost in thought, until he seemed to finally remember. "You're leaving tomorrow." He said softly.

"Yeah, I have to leave no later than four or so." Hiei said, he'd told his sister a little white lie, which she seemed to pick up on, but he only did it because he wanted to spend time with the red head. Well, that was what he was hoping for anyways.

There was that damn silence again and Hiei fidgeted as Kurama began to undress, but he got up the nerve to say. "I'm done with everything I'd needed to do, so do you want to do something. I thought we could…"

_**(Nothin's wrong, just as long as you know that someday I will)**_

"Hiei." Kurama said softly, pausing in his undress.

Hiei walked over and stood right in front of the red head, staring into those emerald green eyes with hurt in his red ones. "Why are you pushing me away?" He growled.

Kurama froze. "I'm not…I just have…"

_**(Someday, somehow, gonna make it all right, but not right now. I know you're wondering when (You're the only one who knows that)) **_

_**(Someday, somehow, gonna make it all right, but not right now. I know you're wondering when.)**_

Hiei had had enough. "Don't give me that bullshit. From the first night I told you I had heard from them, to them wanting to interview me, to me telling you I've accepted the job. You've been avoiding me."

"I've had…" Hiei cut him off.

"I know your mother is sick, but we've had time. You just keep making excuses and…"

_**(Well I hoped that since we're here anyway. We could end up saying things we've always needed to say. So we could end up stringing. Now the story's played out like this. Just like a paperback novel. Let's rewrite an ending that fits…instead of a Hollywood horror.)**_

This time Kurama cut in, anger beginning to show. "Maybe it's because you sounded so happy to have a chance to get out of here. Maybe it's because when we do have a moment together, all you talk about is how wonderful this place is. How great it's going to be for us. I'm sorry Hiei…but there's not going to be an 'us' there. Don't you get it? I have someone who is relying on me. ME, to see to her needs, she's had no one else since my father and step-father passed, just me. I can't just get her on her feet and then say, okay…bye, I'll write and visit when I can."

"She can come with us." Hiei plundered out.

"What?" Kurama's eyebrows arched.

_**(Nothin's wrong, just as long as you know that someday I will)**_

Not really thinking, just spilling out the first thing that came to mind, Hiei said. "She can stay with us. Maybe get her an apartment in town. She could walk to everything and meet new people."

"I think I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Kurama said and walked towards the bathroom. He had been taking showers every night trying to keep the smell of the hospital off him.

"What's wrong with it?" Hiei called out, following. Damn it, he was not an idiot. "I'm not selfish." He added and he really didn't think he was acting it either.

Kurama turned abruptly to see the smaller figure right in front of him. "But you're being unreasonable. Mother has special needs. She needs medical treatment that requires more than just some local family doctor."

"I'm not giving up on us that easy." Hiei whispered, looking again into green eyes.

"But I have to." Kurama whispered back, walking away.

_**(Someday, somehow, gonna make it all right, but not right now. I know you're wondering when (You're the only one who knows that)) **_

Hiei stood there as the bathroom door closed and he heard the water turn on. He paced and just when he thought the red head was never coming out, the door opened and Kurama stepped out wearing pajama bottoms.

"Why?" Hiei said, standing defiant, wanting an answer.

"What do you want from me?!" Kurama yelled. "Even mother thinks I'm leaving. I can't believe she expects me to go with you. You told her that you'd asked me to go with you. How dare you try to persuade her into thinking I was leaving."

Hiei didn't even blink. This was what he'd been expecting all week. Maybe this was what he was personally pushing for. He had been watching Kurama walk around like a zombie for the past week, trying to control all the bent up emotions.

"She's going to be alright." Hiei finally said.

Kurama stood there blinking. "I…I hope your right." He whispered. "I just…I just can't leave her right now." He said, starting to shake.

"She was the one that assumed. I told her that I would like you to join me and she was happy for you, for us." Hiei said, walking over, wanting to comfort the red head. They had been sleeping in the same bed, but every time the black haired rolled over to cuddle or even comfort, he was brushed off.

_**(How the hell did we wind up like this? Why weren't we able? To see the signs that we missed and try to turn the tables.)**_

_**(Now the story's played out like this. Just like a paperback novel. Let's rewrite an ending that fits…instead of a Hollywood horror.)**_

Kurama stepped back, but Hiei grabbed his wrist. "Hiei, please…I…"

"You what?" Hiei said softly, not letting go and pulling until he had his arms around the lean waist.

The red head stood as stiff as a cardboard cutout. Hiei didn't push, just stood there calmly, resting his head on the bare chest.

Drip…drip…there it was. The first tears that needed to be shed. He could tell Kurama was trying to hold back, so he held tighter and began rubbing circles on the pale back. "Let it out." He whispered.

Kurama broke, sobs shaking his body as he let all the emotions of his mother's health and Hiei's leaving wash over him. His knees buckled and the smaller figure was able to help him to the floor where he just held onto the red head for dear life as he let it all out. The memories of the night on the beach that first time he saw Kurama break down came flooding back. The red head was stubborn, just like his mother, holding everything in until it blew.

_**(Nothin's wrong, just as long as you know that someday I will)**_

Not knowing how much time had past, but knowing it had been awhile, since his leg was beginning to cramp, Hiei whispered. "Kurama." Moving, now dry, red hair away from Kurama's face, he noted green eyes were closed, breathing calm.

Hiei took a deep breath, Kurama hadn't been sleeping well since all this mess began and now here he was, in the middle of the floor, sound asleep.

With a few grunts and groans, the small figure was able to pick up the taller one and move them to the bed. Kurama woke just enough to help get under the blankets and then he moved over and snuggled up to Hiei, falling right back to sleep.

Hiei lay there, holding the man he had come to care about very much. The word 'love' came to mind and he realized the two had never said the word to each other in the years they'd been together.

Hiei lay there all night, thinking of his past, his future and everything in between.

_**(Someday, somehow, gonna make it all right, but not right now. I know you're wondering when (You're the only one who knows that)) **_

'Was this how it was going to end?' He began to think. 'I'm I willing to give up that easily?' 'Has Kurama already given up on us?' He realized the two never talked about the future much. Neither one had ever suggested they move in together. Was it because each felt safer, knowing they could go back to their 'home' if something were to happen.

Hiei had been the one to suggest Kurama buy the loft when it became available, he never thought to ask the red head to move in with him. Though Kurama had told him that he had moved in with Kuronue after only a few months of dating and then later in with Karasu so they could mourn his death together. Now knowing Karasu's true intentions, he couldn't blame the red head for wanting a place of his own.

So maybe they had both subconsciously kept their distance to a certain degree. Both not wanting to make any commitments they knew, deep down, they couldn't keep. One having had one night stands, many one night stands and one, what he thought, was a serious relationship. The other one having a serious relationship, only to have that person die and then someone take advantage of his mourning to use him.

With his hand subconsciously rubbing the red head's back, he continued to lay there thinking, refusing to look at the clock. As long it was dark out then he had time, time to cherish this moment. He had always thought Kurama would leave him, finally finding him boring, undesirable. Leaving him forbidden just like he felt when his mother died. He felt the red head shift some and stopped rubbing, looking down to see Kurama looking up at him.

Kurama leaned up and kissed him on the lips while moving so he was straddling the smaller figure.

Hiei brought his hands up to tangle in the red locks as Kurama leaned in and kissed him again. The red head's kisses were always sensual, carnal even when forced, always seeming to send tingling sensations down his sides. He never knew kisses could be this way, having always experienced 'slobbery' quick ones, like they were some sort of nuisance that happened during sex. The red head's tongue danced inside his mouth, like it was trying to savor his insides. He wanted to remember them this way. Wanted to remember how Kurama's hands felt when they raveished his body. How they groped, molesting his body, never forcibly, but with tenderness and care. How they gave pleasure with every touch as they pinched, rubbed, probed.

Kurama paused in his ministrations, locking his eyes with red ones as best he could in the dark. There was a full moon out and the lights along the piers, so he could make out Hiei's expression.

_**(Nothin's wrong, just as long as you know that someday I will)**_

Kurama didn't say anything as his hands began to pull on Hiei's shirt in desperate need, actually ripping the shirt away. Hiei brought his hands up, stopping the red head and saying. "No…no regrets, not like this."

Again, Kurama didn't say anything. He just leaned over and began attacking the small figure with kisses, nips, suckling along the neck/shoulder and then attaching to a nipple, causing Hiei to arch and cry out. When he arched his hips, hands had already undone his pants and they were jerked off, tossed haphazardly across the room. Kurama didn't waste anytime getting his underwear off either.

Hiei grabbed the lean wrists, trying to get Kurama to slow down, but the red head fought him to get loose. "Please Hiei…I need to feel you one last time."

_**(Someday, somehow, gonna make it all right, but not right now. I know you're wondering when (You're the only one who knows that)) **_

Seeing the plea in the green orbs, Hiei let go and surrendered to the red head. Kurama continued where he left off, kissing his way down the black haired's body. The red head moved slowly, like he was mapping every scar, noting every reaction to his touches. The small figure then felt his thighs being pushed apart and without warning or any teasing, Kurama took Hiei's cock in his mouth and began suckling quickly.

_**(I know you're wondering when. (You're the only one who knows that.))**_

Hiei about hit the roof, the sensations washing over his body like a volcano erupting and not being able to control the hot lava burning down his insides. Feeling movement, Hiei felt Kurama fumbling to remove his pants and he tried to slow things down again. He quickly found out however that Kurama had no intentions of moving slow as he straddled him again and without any preparation, slowly impaled himself on Hiei's, now hard, member.

"Stop." Hiei called out, firmly grabbing the red head's waist in a death grip, trying to keep the man from hurting himself. "You've not been prepared…let me…" It was in vain and he cried out.

"Kurama!" As the red head leaned his body over his and continued to move down, ignoring the death grip that was now on his upper thighs. Hiei had thought in the beginning that the way the man was acting he was going to be the uke. Kurama never forced then turned around and surrender. Blinking to get focus, he saw the red head with his head back, eyes closed and he was sure Kurama had hurt himself, but the head tilted forward with green eyes glowing almost gold in the darkness. The red head then let out a long deep throated moan before he began to bounce up and down, locking his green eyes with red ones.

It was a cross between pleasure and pain as the red head moved at a feverish pace, but it wasn't long before Hiei cried out again as he came, his hands still holding onto the lean thighs in a death grip.

With his head swimming and his body, tingling, numb, Hiei didn't know if Kurama had found release. By the time things came back into focus, the red head was laying along his chest and he could feel content breathing.

_**(I know you're wondering when. (You're the only one who knows that.))**_

As Hiei finally let sleep wash over him, the sun was coming up.

Sometime during the morning hours, when the sun came up, Hiei woke to Kurama ravishing him again, but this time he made sure the red head took him. They were two different feelings after all, the feeling of being inside someone and the feeling of someone being inside of you.

a)a)a)a

Around four o'clock in the afternoon, Hiei slipped out of bed, leaving the red head asleep. It would seem Kurama had slept well, he needed it and the black haired was glad he'd stayed until the last minute. He would be pushing his luck with the schedule, but if traffic and weather cooperated then he should get there with time to spare. Hoping not to wake the man in bed, he grabbed his clothes from the night before and tossed them in his pack. Grabbing fresh ones, he quietly entered the bathroom to take a quick shower.

Coming out fully dressed, Hiei didn't see green eyes watching him as he packed the last of his things. The red head watched silently, wondering if the man he had come to possibly love was just going to walk out and not say anything.

Letting out a deep sigh, Hiei turned to look at the man laying in bed one last time, trying to burn the image of the one he had possibly come to love into the retina of his eye and then into his mind. He had never truly experienced love before, so maybe that wasn't the right word. Yes, he loved his sister, but that was a deep caring, wanting to protect type of love.

Realizing there were green eyes looking at him, the black haired walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Neither said anything as they both leaned into each other and kissed.

Kurama sat up and hugged him. Holding onto the small figure like it was the last time and maybe deep down Hiei was beginning to realize this was going to be the last time. That Kurama had no plans to join him, even in the future.

Finally pulling back, Hiei said.

"You can still change your mind."

"It's already been made and you know the reasons why."

"I'll visit on weekends, when I can and of course on holidays."

Green eyes looked down and gave a slight nod in understanding.

"Tell Shori that I hope she feels better and give her my regards."

This time he couldn't see the green eyes, but again saw the slight nod of the head. He had thought about stopping by and telling her good bye, but how could he face her. Especially after he had just assumed…never mind, it didn't matter now.

"I guess I should get going." The blacked haired said, walking over to the dinning room table to get his things. Shouldering his pack, red eyes looked over one last time at the man sitting on the bed before he headed to the door of the red head's loft.

"Hiei." Kurama paused then looked up to make sure he'd stop. He had, with his hand on the knob. "Take care of yourself."

"I will." Hiei said and walked out the door. Closing the door behind him, the black haired paused and looked at it, lost in thought. He could still walk back in and beg the red head to come along, there was still time to walk in and say fine 'you win', but this chance was a dream come true. A dream that had been practically placed in his lap and he wanted it with all his being. He hadn't been doing all those things for nothing, he had worked hard to get where he's at. Brushing fingers lightly across the door, the once EMT whispered. "You take care of yourself as well." Before turning and walking away.

Back inside the loft, Kurama fell back on the bed with a heavy sigh. 'Two years…two years they'd been together.' Green eyes watered, but he refused to cry. At least Hiei wasn't dead, he had walked out on his own two feet and they had separated with both of their consent. So what was the point of crying? The red head rolled to his side, looking out over the piers and the tears that had been pooling gave way to gravity as he lay there, staring until the sun set.

Though as the last rays faded into the horizon…the phone rang.

a)a)a)a

Across town, a light was on, on the top floor of a well known office building. The rest of its occupations had already gone home hours ago, but two still remained to finish up a few last important matters.

Yuu Kaitou stepped into the office without knocking.

"What is it?" The man asked, looking up from his desk in irritation at the abrupt intrusion.

"Sir, we've just received the fax listing the new Emergency Service personnel for the resort and…" Yuu began to ramble.

"Let me see." Karasu said, cutting the young man off by holding out his hand, wanting to see for himself.

Taking the folder, the long black haired man pushed away from his desk and crossed his knees before flipping it open. Pondering the list, he gave a firm nod as he saw the first name on the roster, 'Jaganshi, Hiei-Captain.'

"So he accepted the offer." Karasu muttered, closing the file and sitting forward so he could hand it back.

Yuu took the folder. Opening it, he said. "So it says." He'd not dare look at the list until his boss asked or seen it first.

"Excellent." Karasu said, turning around in his chair. "How's the mother?" He then asked.

Yuu closed the folder and lowered his eyes. "I called the doctor like you asked and it seems things are not as well as they'd hoped."

"I'm sorry to hear that, maybe I should…" Karasu said softly, not turning around as he watched the night life.

"I've already sent flowers, is there something else you would like me to…" Yuu informed.

"No." Karasu said, cutting the man off as he turned back around. "No, I think this calls for a more…'personal' intervention." Stacking some folder to the side, he notice Yuu still standing there and said. "Oh, thank you Yuu, you may retire for the night." He waved his hand in a dismissal manner.

"Thank you sir." Yuu said and hurried out of the office.

When the door closed, Karasu turned back around to stare back out the window.

"My poor pet." He muttered, watching the headlights of traffic rush by. "Your world seems to be turned upside down at the moment. Let's see if I can help you turn it right side up."

End Chapter 7

Lyrics to the Song:_** Someday **_- By:_Nickelback_

Well, we've finally come full circle….

A big HUGE _**THANK YOU!**_ goes to KyoHana for allowing me the use of her Haikus. I have plans to use a few more, so for now I humbly bow and say. "It is an honor to use such wonderful masterpieces." Though there is no way to ever repay her for being with me from the very beginning with her support of encouraging words and of course all her reviews. Any mistakes made in typing the Haikus are purely mine and mine alone.


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks for the reviews…

Chapter 8

The forest green Jeep Liberty drove down the slushy roads. A heavy, wet snow, the size of cotton balls was falling in thick clumps making the windshield wipers squeak as they valiantly strived to keep the glass clear, but they fell just short. Hiei Jaganshi leaned forward in his seat, peering intently out at the road, the headlights barely illuminating the asphalt in front of him.

The song he'd been ignoring finished playing as he took a slug from his water bottle.

_(DJ)_ "Its six-thirty a.m. here in the Tri county area and boy are we getting hammered."

"No shit." He grumbled, red eyes blinking at the brightness of the snow, looking almost yellowish in the glare.

_(DJ)_ "The weather dude has issued an advisory, with two to three inches of precipitation expected by this evening, so watch for local flooding. In the mountains, the rain has turned into a heavy wet snow, up to a foot possible. The Highway commission has issued a travel advisory. If you don't need to be out…don't be."

"Oh, I would agree, but…" Hiei murmured as he looked down at the gauges. He had half a tank of gas and two hours, at least…no, at forty-five miles an hour, make it three, if he was lucky. 'Damn, how did I ever talk myself into this?' He thought he wouldn't have a problem with the four to five month snow season, but there was only one, minor, little problem. He hated snow, always had ever since he was a child. While other kids were out having snowball fights, making snowmen and building ice forts, he was sitting inside the house miserable. Maybe, subconsciously, it had something to do with the fact that his aunt had told him, when he was old enough to understand, that his mother had died during a snow storm.

_(DJ)_ "The closings will be read again at the top of the hour, but now it's time for your stupid news, a man in the City walked into the local area MacDougal's armed with a hatchet. Brandishing the weapon at the cashier, he then began demanding they bring back the Western Omelet sandwich. Unfortunately for the man, Sheriff Deputies, who just happen to be on the premises, quickly apprehended the man and carted him to jail. Can you imagine that, I guess he had an 'axe' to grind over the cancellation of the sandwich? What was this guy thinking, even if they brought back the sandwich, he wouldn't be able to enjoy it because he'll be in the slammer. Maybe someone will sneak him one in…."

"Hn, I wonder if Yukina's bailed out the oaf yet." Hiei said to himself, a rare, wide grin playing across his lips.

Suddenly the rear wheels began to slip and Hiei let off the gas as he took a 50 mph turn at 45. Swearing intently, the black haired fought with himself and the wheel before finally wrenching the car back under control.

"Piece of two wheel drive crap. The sprite would have handled better than this." He hissed, slowly easing back on the gas, but topping out at forty.

"And now back to the best of the 80's, 90's and today." The DJ announced.

The beginning lyrics of Olivia Newton-John's – 'Physical' filled the car.

"Hnnn, someone hates me today." He said shaking his head back and forth in an attempt to clear the wicked thoughts as images of getting 'physical' with a certain red head filled his head.

He couldn't think about that right now, so turning off the radio, he then reached up to rub his sleep filled eyes, but his hand went quickly back to the wheel and he ended up yelling instead. "OOH SHhhhiiT!!" Red eyes caught a glimpse of a dear standing literally yards in front of him. Quickly cutting the wheel, he feathered the gas, trying to coax the SUV to swerve away from the animal that stood there staring deadpan at the approaching lights. But as luck would have it, the front wheels refused to bite on the wet slick roads making him hiss. "Damn!!"

With his foot automatically mashing the brakes, the Liberty careened into the animal at nearly forty miles an hour. He heard wrenching metal as the animal flipped up on the hood and then the high pitch screeching as it slid towards the windshield.

With his brain playing out the scene in slow motion, his mind yelled. 'Duck Hiei.' But his body refused to move. He was frozen stiff, his hands gripping the steering wheel in a death grip.

Red eyes went wide as glass exploded everywhere, the windshield shattering into a million pieces from the force of the deer smashing through it to land in the passenger's seat. Hiei's arms came up two seconds too late as the airbag exploded in his face and he actually thought. 'Shouldn't that of went off earlier?' Seeing nothing but white, he was jolted forward as the car slammed into something, not realizing it was the guardrail.

_('Beep, Beep'-_noise)

"This is On-Star, we've registered an airbag deployment, are you okay Mr. Jaganshi… Mr. Jaganshi…I'm calling emergencies services…"

_('Ring, ring_'-noise) "911 dispatch…what is your emergency…"

"Yes, this is On-Star. We've registered an airbag deployment. I'm sending last known coordinates…"

a)a)a)a

Though it was only mid morning the skies were a dark gray making it appear night. The clouds were thick as they rumbled across the sky, churning like the waves in the sea. The noise of the thunder growled as it shook the earth, the acoustics vibrating the air.

Lightning illuminated the path just enough for a certain red head to see his way to his destination. Though there was no means of artificial lighting, he didn't need it, for he'd walked this path hundreds of times and could do it blindfolded if needed.

The ground was saturated, turning it into a thick mud, making his expensive dress shoes make the suction noise as he trudged his way without care. He was soaked to the bone, his trench coat long ago giving up being protective. His teeth had also long ago given up chattering from the freezing rain. The red head no longer cared, didn't care about anything anymore expect getting to his destination. Nothing else mattered, nothing important anyways. The only item he carried on him was safely tucked inside his coat and though it was now wet, it would still do what he needed it to.

He knew it had been wrong to take the item, but he couldn't help himself. He'd seen it and his hand had automatically, as if it had a mind of its own, reached out to snatch it, tucking it up his sleeve in a blink of an eye. It had felt so natural, like he had done it a thousand times before. He doubted anyone would notice it missing and even if they did, it would all be over with soon enough and life would go on.

Within a few feet of his target, he stumbled, landing hard on his knees in the mud and he cried out, not in pain, but in pure frustration. Taking the moment to beat the wet, soaked earth, he let his frustration wash over him as he threw clumps of mud. It felt so good to let it out. He only wished Hiei were there to hold him like he had when he threw those clumps of sand on the beach those years ago, but he knew that could never happen now. So after a few moments more, he finally staggered his way back to his feet and continued his journey. Wiping a now mud caked hand across his face, leaving brown streaks in its path, he finally found the spot he was looking for and fell, again, to his knees in front of the cold slab.

"Well, I've lost everyone." He said to the stone. "Kuronue." Green eyes looked out to his right. "Mother." He smirked. "And I guess in some perverse way, Karasu and now here we are…its all come down to this."

Looking up at the rain, coming down so hard now that it stung his skin, he let the liquid wash the mud from his face, letting it mix with the tears he'd refused to let fall until now.

Letting out a deep breath, he ran a hand through his soaked hair, trying to plaster it away from his face as green eyes scanned the area. He need not worry about being overheard. With the weather advisory about local flooding, everyone was safely at home waiting the rains out. The streets had been almost deserted as the cab drove him to the entrance. He could have had his driver Bui bring him, but didn't want to answer the questions, he knew, would be asked. In a voice just enough above the sound of the pouring rain, he began to tell his tale.

"I almost didn't answer the phone. I was content to stay right there in bed, even though it was lonely because…well, _(smirk)_ that's not important right now…I answered the phone…"

_**(Flashback-6 months ago) **_

By the time he'd made it to the hospital, it was too late. His mother had been put on life support.

"I don't understand, she was doing well, you were going to release her into my care. What happened?" Kurama asked the doctor. He hadn't been able to see his mother just yet. The doctor had met him outside her room and took them to his office to talk.

"Did she not tell you?" The doctor asked.

"Tell me what?" Kurama almost growled.

"She said she would tell you." The doctor said somberly. "A few months ago we found a tumor."

Red eyebrows rose in shock. "A…a tumor."

The doctor took a deep breath and gave a nod. "Yes, a tumor. During her last check up, we found a growth on her right lung. It was the size of a grape."

Kurama's green eyes blinked in confusion. "She didn't tell me."

"I'm sorry you have to find out this way." The doctor said.

"Could it not be treated, why wasn't she on...?" Kurama went to ask.

The doctor held up a hand, stopping the red head. "I gave her the run down of all treatments and aggressive measures we could take, but she refused. She refused all treatment."

"Even Chemo." Kurama said softly.

"She said she didn't want to be bloated, nauseas all time and throwing up from the Chemo."

That was his mother. "But…"

"I'm sorry. It was her decision. She knew she had only a few months to live because the tumor was growing. It's now the size of a lemon, putting massive strain on her lung. We believe what started the episode, was her lung collapsing, she went into congestive heart failure shortly there after. The nurse called a code blue, and we were able to revive her. But she is now on life support."

"What are her chances?" Kurama asked, looking down at his hands in his lap as they began to shake.

The doctor just shook his head gravely.

"How long then?" The red head's hands were now shaking so hard, he clasped them together and tucked them between his legs, but then his legs started quivering ever so slightly.

The action didn't go unnoticed by the doctor and he felt sorry for the young man. "That will be up to her family." He said.

"I'm her only family. I'm the executor of her will." Kurama said.

"Do you know if she has a DNR?" (Do not resuscitate) The doctor asked, sitting forward in his chair.

"No, not that I know of." Kurama answered, he could feel his body shriveling up and wanted nothing more than to curl into a tight ball where he could wish this nightmare away.

"Then you have to make the decision, on whether or not to leave her on life support. I will be honest and tell you, there is no hope for recovery. The cancer will continue to spread through her body, without treatment. Her only means of any sort of life is the life support. She probably will never…"

Kurama cut the doctor off, he really didn't need to hear this. "I…I understand. May I see her now?"

"Of course…I'll walk with you."

He sat with her for a long time, holding her hand, brushing her hair. She looked so pale and fragile now compared to the last time he'd talked to her.

He tuned out the sounds of the machines as he thought back to the last conversation, just the day before.

"_Give Hiei my blessings. He's leaving tomorrow, right?" Shori asked._

_Kurama didn't immediately answer. He had to actually take a moment to think what day it was. Going from work, to the hospital, to home and repeating the routine for the past several weeks, even on weekends, had caused all the days to blend together. "Yes…I…I think so." He finally answered._

"_Are you going to go visit him soon?" She asked. Looking out of the corner of her eye, around the magazine she was looking through, at her son._

"_Mother." The red head sighed, leaning back in his chair._

_Flipping through some pages, she said. "I know I know…he has that brutal training for three months, but you can always join him after that." _

_When she didn't hear anything, she lowered the magazine and looked straight at him._

_Seeing her look, he said. "Mother, we have had this conversation before. I'm not leaving you. In a few days you will be out of here and at the loft…" _

"_Don't be silly. If I can't go home than I'm staying here, you have your life to live and don't need to harbor over me." Shori said firmly._

"_There is still no heat and the electricity keeps cutting out…" Kurama tried to say._

"_Then I can find somewhere else to live." She said, causally looking through the magazine again._

_Kurama showed a soft smile. "If I didn't know better, I would say you were trying to get rid of me." _

"_Shuiichi." Shori said, laying the magazine down and holding out her hand. Her son took it in one of his own and she spoke from the heart. "I know in my heart that Hiei is the one for you. No matter where he is or where you end up being, you will be together. I don't want you to go through what I did when it comes to love. I know you felt close to Kuronue, but I can tell that Hiei is different. Don't let him go, fight for him tooth and nail. He told me that he asked you to go with him, doesn't that tell you something?"_

"_He's being unreasonable…" He started to say. They had had this conversation many times since Hiei had told her he was leaving. She needed to understand that it was over, Hiei was moving on and he was staying, no ifs, ands, or buts._

"_No, he's not…"_

"_Then he's being selfish…"_

_Shori took a deep breath. "I'm not going to live forever dear." She said._

"_Don't talk like that." He blinked, appalled at such talk._

_She squeezed his hand. "It's true…and my one last wish is for you to be happy." She looked at the clock. "Now get out of here and go spend time with Hiei. I don't want to see you until late tomorrow. Hiei's sweet sister called this morning and said she would come and sit with me, she's dying to see the new KyoHana books Hiei bought me. She's a fan of her works as well and we plan to read to each other. _

"_Mother."_

"_I can tell you're not sleeping…so don't feel guilty about getting a good night's rest."_

"_I'm fine." He went to say._

"_Don't give me that. I'm your mother and I can tell you're worrying yourself." She countered, letting go of his hand and using it to give the 'shooing' motion. "Maybe you should let Hiei help you…you know sex can be a great way to relax." She smiled, watching her son's eyes go wide and his face turn quickly from pink straight to red._

"_Mother!" Kurama exclaimed._

"_Well, your father was always good at helping me relax, how do you think you were conceived." She said then giggled as her son went white._

"_Sleep well. Love you." Kurama said, hurrying towards the door. He could hear his mother still chuckling as he heard a 'love you too' before the door closed behind him._

_**(Present)**_

"So you were trying to get rid of me…you knew you were dying and yet you said nothing? I won't hold it against you though. I knew deep down you were scared of something. I should have pushed you more into telling me, but I didn't want you to push me away. Did you know it took me a week to get up the nerve to pull the plug? Sorry about that, I just wanted to hold on to you for a little longer. I was being selfish and…I'm sorry. Hn, it's ironic. Everything was a blur after that. I really can't even remember your funeral… _(sigh)_ it was like a dream of sorts. I was there, but not…"

_**(Flashback) **_

The weather had been unusually warm, the light chilly breeze the only reminder that it was supposed to be cold this time of year.

Kurama stood staring at the coffin. It had been a short service. He had forgone a viewing and a church service, deciding that since the weather was unusually warm, he would have a small service at the grave site.

Green eyes took in every detail of the closed coffin. It was made of the finest woods and was the most expensive the funeral home had to offer. The dark rich wood was stained in a satin finish with 14k gold plated handles and clasps. The inside was of the finest silk, done in a pale pink. It had taken the red head a whole day to find a garment to dress her in. He finally found a white cashmere nightgown with pink, embroidered flowers on the chest along with little pink ribbons and wide white lace at the cuffs and along the bottom. When he was able to view her for the last time before they closed and locked the coffin, he couldn't help but think she was beautiful. Though she was painted up like a doll, an attempt to hide the fact that she had lost weight and was paler than normal, she looked to be sleeping. That was the way he wanted her to look, even though he was the only one to see her.

He knew she would have said it was gaudy at such an expense. Saying no one was ever going to see it and it would only get ruined because it was made to go in the ground, but he didn't care, he was being selfish again. It was for his own reassurances. He needed to know she was safe and only the best would do, cost was no matter.

A pale shaky hand reached out to touch the top of the flower laden box. "Only the best for you mother, you deserved so much more. I can only hope you are happy now, free of pain, grief and suffering." He whispered.

"Kurama." He heard softly.

Yukina had been plastered to his side throughout the whole service. Making sure things went smoothly.

Reminding himself to thank her for the unasked help, his sunken green eyes looked over at her. "It's time." Was all she said and he gave a shallow nod in understanding.

She placed a hand on his lower back, guiding him over to the end of the coffin where she then reached to grab his hand.

_**Draw the curtains closed**_

_**Mourn for that which might have been**_

_**And not for what is**_

She whispered to him and he gave her a hopeful smile. "I enjoyed reading to her." She added. He remembered his mother mentioning that Yukina was also a fan of KyoHana's work.

Turning around, the red head crossed his hands in front of him and watched as the guests began to walk passed the coffin. Each person paused for a moment in front of it before placing a single flower on top and then moving to stand in front of him.

He basically replied the same way no matter what was said to him. "Thank you for coming." He would mutter, shaking hands with the men and giving hugs to the women.

His boss had been there, telling him to take all the time he needed. A few co-workers that he worked closely with on occasion had shown up. Then there was Yukina, Kuwabara and even Yusuke, the last two giving distance and walking around like they were on some sort of guard patrol. A few residents from the apartments showed up and gave their condolences, along with the lady who worked the office. The last person he talked to was Seiryu and the man would not shut up about how sorry he was. That he felt it was his fault somehow, that he should have never let her over do it and on and on. Finally Yukina walked away with the man, leaving the red head alone with the coffin.

He didn't know how long he stood there, but everyone had left and he looked over to see Yukina standing there.

"Thank you." He said, looking back at the coffin.

She walked over and stood next to him. "I know now's not a good time, but." She paused and placed her flower on top of the many others. "Have you told Hiei?"

Kurama let out a painful sigh. "No. I will call him. I've just had other…"

"I can do it. I haven't talked to him since the night he called to say he made it okay." She said.

"No." The red head said, turning to face her. "I'll take care of it."

"Are you sure? I don't mind helping out, with anything that needs to be taken care of." She said.

"You have done more than enough." He said, taking her hands in his.

"Why don't you stop by and have dinner with us, I'll order out." She said, smiling softly.

"No, thank you." He said. "You should get going." He added, looking over to where Kuwabara and Yusuke were standing up the hill a ways, trying to look patient. "Go home and spend time with your husband and kids."

"Don't be too long. She'd want you to get rest and it's starting to turn colder…" She warned.

He squeezed her hands. "I won't. I just want to stay here awhile longer…alone." He said.

Yukina got the hint and gave a nod as she leaned in for a hug. She didn't say anything as she walked up the hill towards the others.

Kurama could feel her red eyes boring holes in his back as he faced the coffin again.

_**(Present)**_

The rain had let up some, though the clouds were still dark like they had more to get rid off. "I had every intention of calling you…_(shrug)_ I guess…I don't know what I was guessing. That maybe you would be too busy to come back. I didn't want to get my hopes up that you would return only to turn around and hear you say you couldn't. I needed to get through it alone, yet I was petrified at being alone and I never did get around to calling you did I. I guess now's a good time to tell you why."

_**(Flashback)**_

He didn't know how long he stood there staring at the coffin, but right as he was about to leave. A tall, long black haired gentleman stepped out from behind a group of trees and sauntered his way over. He was wearing an all black suit covered with a long black trench coat.

Green eyes went wide, but only for a moment as hatred washed over them and they narrowed in anger. "What are you doing here?" He spat.

"Come now my p…Shuiichi. I only came to pay my respects." Karasu said, walking closer. He was twirling a long stemmed red rose in one hand, while his other hand was in his coat pocket.

"You've paid them, now leave." Kurama said and actually blocked the man's path to the coffin.

Karasu stopped, raising the rose to his face where he let it kiss along his bottom lip. "Shuiichi, I can see the pain you're in, losing one's mother is hard. I should know. I lost mine when I was only a child. You were lucky to have her as long as you had."

Kurama didn't know why he didn't move, but the next he knew, Karasu was standing beside him. Green eyes watched as the long black haired kissed his hand and placed it on the coffin then kissed the rose before placing it on the very top of the other flowers.

"She was a dear sweet woman." Karasu said.

"How do you know…you never knew her?" Kurama managed to say, his anger returning at such a show of affection for a woman the man only met once, maybe twice.

Karasu took a step closer to the red head and leaning in, said. "If she was anything like you, I have no doubt."

"You may leave now." Kurama informed, holding up a hand to stop the man as he stepped even closer.

"I just want to be here for you. You have no one, with that ru…" Karasu managed to stop himself. "With Hiei gone, my dear brother and now your mother…I just don't want you to be alone. Is it to much to ask that you let me be here for you hmm…through this difficult time?" He eyes blinked in a mock hurt.

"How…how did you know about Hiei…?" Kurama asked, dumbfounded.

Karasu took the moment to step even closer to the red head, placing his body so their coats were brushing against one another. Leaning his head in, he then whispered next to an ear. "I've been keeping tabs on you. I've been very worried and only want to help."

Kurama found his body shivering at the feel of having someone he knew, yet hadn't been with in years standing so close to him.

Karasu saw this and took the opportunity to bring a hand up, snaking it under long red hair so he could caress the lean, pale neck.

Watching as green eyes closed, he then leaned in to plant a feathered kiss on the pale lips and he mentally reveled as he heard the red head's breath hitch. Realizing he wasn't being stopped, the black haired poked his tongue out, seeking permission to deepen the kiss.

Kurama's mind was screaming, 'this is wrong', yet his body was responding to it. The touch was familiar, yet new and exciting and he found himself wanting the comfort of that familiar feeling. Was it wrong to not want to be alone…especially at a time like this? Gods, he was just so tired. So tired of feeling alone since Hiei had left, with trying, in vain, to sleep in an empty bed and then there was that pain of knowing he could never turn to his mother for guidance.

When the kiss ended, Karasu didn't say anything. He just wrapped an arm around the red head's waist and together, they walked up the hill to a waiting limo.

_**(Present) **_

"Though I knew it was wrong...I went with him. I don't think I really cared what happened at that point." Kurama said, wiping a hand across his eyes. "I just didn't want to be alone." And he mentally cursed himself for being so weak. "But…" He finally said, remembering what had happened. "I suppose, it was meant to be. If I hadn't gone to the penthouse and stayed the night…I would have never found out."

End Chapter 8

A big _**thank you**_, again, goes to KyoHana for the use of her Haikus…


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks for the reviews…

Chapter 9

_**(Hiei-several weeks after Shori's funeral)**_

"WHhh...AT!" Hiei stuttered into the phone. His legs taking a stumbling step back as his mind tried to comprehend the words he'd just heard. If it hadn't been for his free hand grabbing the back of a nearby chair, he would have no doubt been sitting on the floor. He'd finally gotten a break from his training and tried to call the red head. He had tried to call him on the night he'd arrived as well, but hadn't received an answer then either. So he decided to call his sister, only to hear news he hadn't been expecting.

"He didn't call you?" Yukina said somberly.

"NO…why didn't you…" He said through clenched teeth. His tone clearly projected his anger at not being told sooner.

"He said he would and you just told me this was the first time you've gotten to a phone in weeks…your cell phone doesn't get service there yet…"

Hiei cut her off. "You could have gotten a hold of someone to get the news to me…"

"You never…never gave me a contact number." She informed softly and he could hear her voice cracking. "I thought you had… had given it to Kurama, but…but, forgot to give it to me."

Hiei took a deep breath while closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. There was no use in getting upset with her. If Kurama had told her he was going to call him, then she would have believed him. But she also had a point about, just 'how' was anyone supposed to get in contact with him. He hadn't given Kurama a contact number either, so how could he expect the red head to get a hold of him and tell him that the woman he'd come to consider a mother figure, had died un-expectantly

There were several moments of silence. "Tell me everything." He finally said, turning the chair around. With the way his sister was sounding, he needed to sit down for this.

"She apparently had a tumor…"

_**(Present)**_

"I miss you." Kurama said, his fingers shaking ever so slightly as they brushed across the engraved lettering. "Being able to talk to someone has become a rare commodity."

Biting his bottom lip, the red head looked up. The rain had stopped, but the clouds still churned and thunder could be heard off in the distance. Lightning was barely visible along the horizon.

Sitting with his legs bent in front of him, arms resting on his knees. He hung his head in thought. Taking a deep breath, he looked back up at the sky, blinking away the tears that continued to leak as he let the quietness of the place wash over him. One never realizes how loud rain can be until it tapers off.

In a lower voice, he continued. "I really wanted to call. I had the phone in my hand, but then I remembered…I had no contact number. One was never left and cell phones didn't get service up there yet. Was that intentional…a way of telling me to move on…that it was over since I wouldn't go?" A hand came up to rub his chin in ponder. "Hmm…I suppose I could have asked Yukina for it." He muttered.

Looking down at the name on the stone, he smirked. "Am I right in saying, you would say that was a moot point now and I would admit…I would agree?" He asked of the cold stone.

Dragging the hand over his face, he took in another deep, shuddering, breath. "Sorry, I seem to be getting off subject…I just wanted it to be noted that I had every intention of calling. Now…" He started, crossing his legs before reaching a hand into his coat to take out the item that had been safely tucked in the folds and laying it on the ground in front of him. He'd get to it later. "Where was I?" He said. "Oh…what I found out…I never thought someone could get so caught up in doing whatever it took to get something. Making it an obsession, I suppose, but then again…I'm not exactly innocent myself, at present. I can honestly say it did happen to me after I realized what had been going on…and just so you know. I never felt more like a fox being chased to death by a hound and I 'still' consider myself a fool for not realizing something wasn't right."

_**(Flashback) **_

Shuiichi woke to the feeling of someone laying next to him with their arm across his waist. The warmth felt nice, but the pounding headache he had was not. Green eyes finally opened to familiar surroundings, yet hadn't been seen in years. He then noted that the figure next to him was longer than he was used to, as well as the feeling of silky hair against his chest and back.

Trying not to jerk in surprise as the memory of last night hit him like a ton of bricks. Shuiichi cursed himself as he slowly began to peel his body away from the figure laying against him.

"Something wrong?" He heard muttered into his chest and looked down to see straight black hair.

Feeling the red head he was laying on trying to shift out of the embrace, Karasu tried not to smirk as he realized his pet was awake and obviously surprised to be in his bed. So while trying to give an innocent look, though not able to control a slight smug, he removed his arm from around the lean waist.

Seeing the look, Shuiichi said the first thing that came to mind. "No…no I have…have to go…to the restroom is all." He hastily tossed back the covers and while trying not to cringe at the realization that he was naked, headed to the bathroom.

Karasu watched the red head as he headed towards the bathroom. When the door closed, he let out a blissful sigh and grabbed the pillow the man had slept on. Cuddling it to his chest, he inhaled the smell he'd missed over the past few years. "Welcome home my pet." He muttered into the fabric.

Hearing the door open, the black haired placed the pillow back before watching the tall lean figure walk back over. Seeing the tiredness in the emerald eyes, he raised the covers, motioning for the red head to re-join him in the warmth.

"No…I can't sleep anymore." Shuiichi said, looking around for his clothes and not seeing them, but seeing an all too familiar green robe laying on the end of the bed.

Forcing himself to put the robe on casually, the red head looked at the clock on the nightstand. Eleven-thirty something a.m. it read.

Feeling Karasu eyes still on him, Shuiichi said. "I'll go make us some coffee." And not waiting for an answer, headed out, closing the door behind him.

Karasu lay there, still revealing in the warmth that was Shuiichi. Last night had gone better than he'd expected. Though the red head was not a big drinker, he had managed to get Shuiichi to have a few drinks, to calm his nerves of course. Then it seemed the red head fell back into the same old routine when it was time for bed, by stripping and crawling in like an old habit. Oh, the black haired knew he could have made his move then, but he had time. There was no sense in rushing, no sense in pressing his luck. He could tell the red head was confused, no doubt cursing himself and racking his brain as to 'what' had happened last night. His brain no doubt a little fuzzy, probably due to the after effects of the alcohol and the emotional distress the poor boy was under. Cuddling back up to the pillow, he practically purred. Let the man think what he wants about what happened last night, he decided and besides, there was always the persuasion of getting him into a shower. He had put Shuiichi's clothes in the closet so if the red head wanted to leave, he would have to come back into the room to get them. The black haired doubted the man would cause a scene by leaving in the robe.

Shuiichi closed the bedroom door and then leaned against it, letting a shuddering chill wash over him. 'Why the hell did I come here?' He asked himself.

Pushing off the door, the red head made his way down the hall, noting the new furniture. It was still in the same neutral shades of whites, but now instead of a long sectional, there were two loveseats facing each other with a glass coffee table in between. This was probably the third, maybe even the fourth time the penthouse had been refurnished. Karasu rarely kept the same style for a year, constantly changing his mind as to what he liked. Or because he had had a temper tantrum, which basically destroyed everything so he was, sort of forced to get new. The bed was the only thing that didn't change, sure the mattresses did, only because he always wanted the latest comfort available, but the frame and headboard stayed the same.

Seeing two wine glasses on the bar, the night before came back in a flash of images, like a slid show of sorts. He had had two glasses of wine. That in itself shouldn't of had an effect, but the four shot glasses next to the them told him he was in for one dozy of a hangover. Coffee, he needed black coffee and a couple of aspirin. Ignoring everything else, the red head went straight to the kitchen and began fumbling around.

_**(Present)**_

Kurama sighed. "I'd realized I'd let my guard down, can you blame me though. I'd just lost the only person I had been with my whole life. And just before her, I'd lost someone I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with…anyways…I always knew Yuu wasn't as bright as he thinks he is. He may be book smart, yes, but when it comes to the obvious…well, let's just say his light isn't a three way."

_**(Flashback)**_

Yuu Kaitou stepped off the elevator. Actually it was more like waddled because in one hand he carried a briefcase. In the other, he had a load of files, making it a delicate balancing act.

Reaching the door with the gold P2 on it, the brown curly haired placed the briefcase down and fumbled for the key. Only to end up cursing as he realized the key was in the other pocket.

He was getting ready to shift the files to his other arm when the door opened. Breathing a sigh of relief, Yuu walked on in. "I'm glad to see you're here sir." He said. "You didn't…" He abruptly stopped as he saw a red head and not his boss holding the door open.

"Yuu, I didn't know Karasu was expecting you." Shuiichi said casually, walking back over to the counter and his cup of coffee.

"What are you doing here?" Yuu said in surprise.

"Visiting." The red head said, taking a sip. "Karasu's still sleeping, you're more than welcome to wait or you can leave a message…I'll make sure he gets it."

Yuu looked over his once high school rival. It was almost noon, why was Karasu still in bed and why was Shuiichi wearing a green robe?

"Well." Shuiichi said, realizing he was getting the 'once over' and could see confusion on the man's face.

Yuu tried rewording his question. "Why are you here?"

"It's really none of your business, but I've already told you. I'm visiting." The red head said, walking over to top off his cup.

"How dare you." Yuu hissed.

"Excuse me." Shuiichi said, blinking green eyes.

"You think just because your little friend is gone that it gives you the right to waltz right back into Mr. Karasu's life. I am sorry about your loss, but if you think you can just move back into 'my' place then you thought wrong."

"Your place." Red eyebrows rose. "I'm sorry…I didn't know…and I didn't think 'you' of all people would share a bed with Karasu."

Yuu shook his head, what the hell was going on. Karasu had kicked him out of the penthouse the other day, setting him up in a smaller apartment across town. He'd found out the place had once belonged to his boss's younger step-brother who had died a few years back. The thought of living in a dead guy's place gave him the creepy crawlies, even though the guy died in the hospital.

'Wait, share a bed.' Yuu's brain finally caught on to what had been said. "You stayed here last night?" He asked. "And slept…"

"Yes, though it is still none of your business. I was going through a difficult moment and Karasu helped me through it." Shuiichi said.

"How dare you feed me this bull. What game are you trying to play? If you think you are going to get your 'assistant' job back, think again. Sleeping in the same bed…psst…"

"You really are clueless, aren't you...so tell me Yuu?" Shuiichi said, deciding to play. "Have you tasted any of the perks that come with the job?"

"I've had my rewards, if that's what you're talking about." Yu explained.

"Really, I didn't know you were his type, or that you had it in you. And here I thought you were just hard headed." Shuiichi mused.

"I don't care what your 'perks' used to be, but I'm doing the job ten times better than you were ever capable of." Yuu growled.

Shuiichi muttered. "Wow that takes some….enduring… qualities. I'm glad you're giving him a hundred percent and that you can arise to the occasion."

Yuu's anger rose at the remark along with his voice as he continued. "And though I'll admit he infuriates me sometimes with his demands of the impossible. I've given a hundred and 'ten' percent to this job and I'm sorry if you felt you couldn't handle it. Mr. Karasu may be a demanding, malicious son of a bitch**, **but I respect a man that will do whatever it takes to get what he wants." As the man took in deep breaths, trying to control his anger, a clap was heard from off to the side of the room. The curly brown haired's head snapped to the noise and his eyes grew wide as he choked out a nervous gulp at the realization that his 'boss' had been standing there listening.

Shuiichi also looked over at Karasu, but his was casual, not in surprise. He had seen the black haired standing there and was going to tell Yuu, but his mother had taught him that it was rude to interrupt someone when they were ranting. As a way to keep a smirk and a 'shit eating' grin from forming on his lips, the red head used the coffee mug as camouflage, taking slow, slow sips.

"A valiant speech my dear boy…I'm so glad to hear that I've had a hundred and ten percent of your dedication and devotion." Karasu said, walking closer to the man and Yuu actually gulped again as he began to sweat. "But I'm afraid to say that your hundred and ten percent is only meeting fifty percent of my needs."

Yuu paled to a ghost white, his body quivering as he stared at his boss. Who was studying his nails, but watching Shuiichi out of the tops of his eyes. 'Is that a smile?' Karasu thought. 'Well, well, my pet seems to be enjoying this. I'll give him a show then.'

Shuiichi could tell the poor man was in for a massive reaming. Which Yuu should have known Karasu was built for reaming. Green eyes looked between the two, then again, maybe he didn't. So not wanting to cause him any more embarrassment, the red head placed his mug down and stood. "I think I need a shower, if you'll excuse me." He said with a nod before heading to the hallway towards the master bath.

Karasu stepped over to block the red head. Bringing up a hand, he cupped the side of the pale face. "Just give me a moment, my petite and then I'll be in to wash your back." He said.

Not being able to control the blush coming to his cheeks, Shuiichi darted down the hall, without looking at Yuu and a door was heard closing. Karasu returned his attention to his assistant and seeing a shocked look on the man's face, raised a black eyebrow in curiosity. "Problem?" He finally said when Yuu's mouth didn't close.

"Uh…no sir." Yuu whispered, trying to understand what he'd just witnessed. He had heard rumors about his boss being gay, well 'bi' actually, but he just chalked them up as a way to try and corrupt the rich man. He had also heard tales about Karasu's younger step-brother and Shuiichi, but again, he just thought it was payback. All of the women he heard talking about it had been turned down by the red head at one time. 'Had Shuiichi always been…?' His mind wondered.

"What part of, 'I do not wish to be disturbed', did you not understand?" Karasu said, maybe just a little louder than needed.

"What?" Yuu said, taken out of his thoughts.

"I said I didn't want to be disturbed and yet here you are, in my humble abode." Karasu said, a hand indicating the place.

"Sir, you didn't sign this paperwork and it needs to be turned over today. You said you would sign them last night and when I saw they weren't. I thought I would bring them over…since you didn't come in this morning…" Yuu had started to ramble, his nervousness starting to show as he tried to explain.

"I had a change of plans last night." Karasu said and it was true, he hadn't expected Shuiichi to come back with him to the penthouse.

"I…I'm sorry, but…but these papers really needed to be looked over and signed. I know that it worked out the way you wanted, but they are expecting…" Yuu was actually dropping sweat from his forehead to the floor and the collar on his shirt was suddenly feeling two sizes to small.

With his voice firm and to the point, Karasu said. "If you think you know me so well, you should have just stamped them with my signature and taken care of it. THAT would have been what Shuiichi would have done." He turned and went back to the opening to the hallway. "And let me make myself clear…you could never give me a hundred and ten percent of yourself." He smirked. "I prefer red heads." Not waiting for anymore talk, he finished. "Now leave them and GET OUT. I will take care of them and make sure they are delivered." He walked a few more steps then turned back around. "Oh…and one more thing." He said making sure Yuu was still listening. "I would watch myself from now on if I were you…Shuiichi just might want his job back….he did always enjoy the 'perks' that came with it." He mused and with that said, turned his back and proceeded towards the bedroom.

What Karasu didn't see was Yuu slamming the files down on the side table and letting out a pure frustrating growl of hatred towards the man. "Damn ingrate fagot…." He began to mutter on his way to the door. As the door 'slammed' the files did a slow slide to the right, then the top two inches fell, scattering across the floor.

Kurama leaned his head against the cool marble of the shower. His head was still pounding, but the aspirin seemed to be helping. The hot water was helping and he found himself closing his eyes. 'Nothing had happened last night.' He told himself and thanked god. He'd check himself out in the mirror and saw no 'visible' signs. Karasu had always left a few marks of his 'foreplay' on him. Also, no matter how use to penetration you are, there was always soreness and he didn't feel any of that either.

With his mind wondering, the red head didn't pay attention to the figure joining him in the shower. That was until the feel of a soapy wash cloth touched his back, causing him to jerk.

"Easy my pet, I'm here to wash your back." Karasu said, continuing to rub up and down the lean back. Though with every swipe, his hand dipped further and further down.

"Thank you." Shuiichi muttered, quickly finishing up his hair.

"What do you want to do today?" He heard, the hand now rubbing the back of his upper thighs and rear.

"Um." The red head paused, his mind slightly distracted. To clear it, he turned and faced the black haired.

With dark eyes looking at him, Shuiichi said. "I need to take care of mother's things. I also need to stop by the funeral home and make sure…" He paused as he realized he wanted to cry. Tilting his head back, he let the water run over his face. 'No.' He told himself. He was not going to lose it here and let Karasu try and 'make it all better.' He'd cried in the man's arms last night and he cursed himself for being weak. He needed to leave, now.

"I'll go with you." Karasu said, hugging the red head and placing his head on a shoulder.

"No….no, I can take care of it myself...I've already wasted half the day." Shuiichi said and went to get out of the shower.

His arm was lightly grabbed and he looked down at the hand holding him then back up to the face of his former boss.

Not liking the comment about the day being wasted, Karasu tried pleading. "Let me take care of you, my pet." While his other hand came up to cup the pale face again.

"I'm not anyone's pet." Shuiichi stated, pulling his arm out of the hold and stepping out of the shower.

Karasu forced himself to stay calm and not follow the red head as he left the bathroom. He needed to watch himself with the 'pet' name. Starting to wash his long black hair, Karasu told himself to let the red head leave. Then when Shuiichi was drowning deep in sorrow again, he would step in and be there.

Shuiichi stepped into the living room dressed, after finding his clothes in the closet along with all his other clothing from a few years ago. Immediately going over to the side table, he grabbed his cell phone, wallet and keys. Apparently having placed them there like the many times before and he wondered if he should be mad at himself for doing something so foolish.

Seeing the tumbled folders, his excessive compulsive disorder kicked in and he bent down to pick them up. Not really paying attention to the papers as he shoved them back into a file. He found himself pausing, however, as a series of letters caught his attention. **ESNY-King** was on one of the tabs.

'Where have I seen those letters and that name before?' He asked himself. Turning his head slightly, he listened to make sure the shower was still on before opening the file.

Knowing that it was wrong and none of his business, his eyes began to scan over the papers. The eyes went wide as he read, but then they narrowed as he began to understand what it all meant.

A resort had been proposed and approved for building in the mountains of Northern Yama, funded by Karasu Inc. Enma King, the head of the board of directors, to which Karasu was a member, had suggested a new Emergency Response Team be assembled to take pressure off the neighboring town's services.

There was a list of candidates to head up a squad and the name Hiei Jaganshi was on that list. He had been recommended by Karasu as a potential candidate.

It was all starting to make sense. Flipping a few more pages, green eyes scanned over the final list of personnel chosen to run various aspects of the resort's day to day operations. The mom and pop contracting company that Takanaka had placed a bid for, but lost in the negotiations to Karasu Inc., was the in charge of maintaining the property. Moving down the list, he saw Hiei Jaganshi's name again. Only this time it was at the top of names and he had the title of Captain beside it. The list was only waiting on the final signature to proceed.

Shuiichi closed the file and placed it on the stack with a deep sigh. Hiei had been telling the truth, he hadn't been looking for this job. It had been offered to him and placed in his lap. Somehow Karasu had known Hiei was looking for a more thrilling job and this one fit the bill. A dream come true.

'Why would Karasu do something like this?' His mind wondered. Lightly running his fingers over the file, he saw a few more tabs. The names were of other companies Karasu Inc. had won in takeover bids. His eyes saw the tab to the file just under the resort one and his mind took in the word Inspection Reports, along with the initials for the apartment complex were his mother lived, used to live.

With his hands shaking, the red head pulled out the file and opened it. It was too much and he dropped the folder, scattering the papers, again, across the floor. Inside were copies off all the health inspection reports, including the ones he had went to the records department for. 'Why…why…why…' His mind began to chant as a knot in the pit of his stomach began to form. Yuu…Yuu was at the apartment that day….talking to the janitor. 'Why?'

"Shuiichi…are you alright?" Karasu said seeing the pale white face and the blank stare. He looked down and saw the papers scattered. The file for the resort lay on top of the stack and the empty folder for the inspections was in his hands. "It's not what you think." He said.

"Then I guess you better try and explain." Shuiichi said, his anger rising to the surface.

Karasu found himself backing up and he actually paled as he saw the narrowed green eyes flash gold.

_**(Present)**_

Kurama picked up the item he had laid in front of him and began toying with the woven decorative strings that wrapped the outer protective cover of the object inside. "I'll save you the boring details, though I will say…I never knew I had such a temper." He said, smiling at the remark. "But something in me at that moment broke, or maybe just awakened. All I remember is that it felt different than the last time I'd left him and…I didn't need help this time." The last part was said with a sigh, but he continued. "Oh, Karasu tried to explain that he had been planning to build the resort for years and that it really was Enma King's idea to form a new Rescue Squad. Names had been mentioned by everyone on the board and no one mentioned was 'persuaded' either way into taking or not taking the jobs."

_**(Flashback)**_

After telling his tale, Karasu added. "As far as Hiei, he left on his own accord. If he truly loved you, he would have stayed. No matter how thrilling the job and if you truly loved him, then my dear boy…you would have gone with him."

"We'll never know, now will we?" Shuiichi said.

"I know I can give you more than he could ever hope to give you. I know what you like…." Karasu began to say, stepping closer as he held out his arms.

Shuiichi took a step back, not wanting to be touched. "What about my mother?" He wanted to know.

Karasu stopped and dropped his arms. Looking down, he said somberly. "I swear on my own mother's grave. I didn't want the poor woman to die. No one should be without their mother, my p…Shuiichi."

"Do you know what all she went through to try and save her 'home'? The red head wanted to know, tossing the folder down. "She worked herself to death, trying to prove the inspections were a crock." The final sentence was little more than a snarl.

Karasu let out a sigh. "I hadn't planned on it happening that way. I just wanted to step in and rescue her…you…make her life more meaningful…make the two of you happy."

"More meaningful…more MEANINGFUL…YOU KNEW NOTHING OF MY MOTHER." Shuiichi yelled. He couldn't control a slight tremor from running through his frame, so he tightened his fits and said through clenched teeth. "She was a beautiful…strong, proud woman who had a full life where she was, friends …. AND YOU WENT AND FUCKED IT UP." He ended up yelling.

The red head was completely shaking all over at this point and his head throbbed. Giving a disgusted breath, he turned for the door.

"Don't leave ….we can work this out." Karasu said, in near desperation. He'd never seen Shuiichi this upset before.

"You're full of shit." Shuiichi said, walking towards the door. "Mark my words. Someway, somehow you will pay for all this."

"My poor boy…you don't have a mean bone in your entire being. I should know…I've played with that luscious body and mind many times." Karasu smirked and even licked his lips.

Kurama stopped, the tremors now quite visible. Slowly, he turned his head and gold eyes blazed through Karasu, like they were trying to stare at his soul. "You will pay for this!" Kurama whispered then walked out, slamming the door behind him.

Karasu just stood there, the smug look slipping from his face. This was not the way he'd intended things to happen. Deciding that it was just one 'minor' little hurdle to get over. He cocked his head and let a small smile reappear on his lips. "So let the games begin and may the better man…that would be me…win my pet." He muttered.

_**(Present)**_

Kurama continued to toy with the woven strings. Since they were soaked, they had begun to unravel in his fingers. "As far as the health inspection reports…Karasu was playing a sick game. He thought if there were 'problems' for my mother, I would come to him and ask for help. The nerve, the bastard actually thought I would come back to him on my hands and knees. Crawling my way in desperation like the wounded, whimpering 'pet' he wanted me to be." The red head stopped in thought. 'He was willing to go through my mother to get me back.' He placed the item back down before continuing. "He swore he didn't know about her 'underlying' condition and I found myself not being to upset with him about that. He wasn't the direct cause of her death. No, the tumor had taken care of that. The janitor was just a gambler and had jumped at the chance to have his debts paid off. Karasu obliged in exchange for some 'sabotages' to the buildings. Karasu was then going to step in and buy the complex when the health inspector finally closed it. Intending to 'modernize' it even more and give the residents a paradise." The red head paused for a moment, letting the memories play out. "I guess in the end you could say it all came down to the fact that I was the only one to ever walk away from him and he didn't like it, so he thought of a way to get close to me. Little did he know by that point, I had 'nothing' more to lose and that was when I decided Karasu Inc. was going to crumble. I was more than willing at that point to do anything and everything it took to make sure he disintegrated with it. I never felt more alive at that moment and I guess in a way I should thank him, for it gave raise to Youko Enterprises."

End Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

Thanks….

Chapter 10

_**(Hiei- a week after talking to Yukina)**_

"Damn it Kurama, pick up." Hiei muttered into the cell phone then ended up letting out a soft curse as the answering service picked up. "Kurama, it's me again. I'm coming in, I need to see..." He paused for a few seconds. "I hope you get this." He closed the phone with a sigh. That was probably the twelfth, if not more, message he'd left like that since he started receiving cell phone service after clearing the mountains.

Forty-eight hours, that's all he managed to get after a week of practically begging for leave. If it hadn't been for him going directly to Mr. King, he wouldn't have gotten any.

If traffic and weather cooperated, then he would have about twelve hours to spend with the red head. He knew that wasn't much, but he'd been worried about the man since finding out Shori had passed. It had to of been devastating, not being told about the tumor.

'Why didn't she tell him?' He wondered, his red eyes focused on the dark road ahead.

"_Have you talked to him?" He'd asked his sister._

"_No…I haven't seen him since the funeral and he's…he's not answering his phone. I even tried calling him at work and they say he hasn't been in." Yukina answered._

_There was silence. By the time she'd described the funeral, Hiei had slid out of the chair to the floor and was now sitting with his legs bent up in front of him, his head hanging between them. "Hiei." He heard._

_Looking up at the ceiling, red eyes blinked in an attempt to stop the tears that had welled up from falling. "I'm here." He said softly, but was mentally cursing himself. His free hand had formed a fist and it was beating the floor lightly. 'Damn it…damn it….I should have been there.' His mind kept telling him._

"_Are you alright?" She asked._

_Making sure his voice wouldn't crack, he swallowed before stating. "I'll be there as soon as I can, in the mean time, keep trying to get a hold of him." And he hung up._

Putting more miles on the Sprite than he ever intended to, Hiei picked up speed and hit the highway. Reaching over, he turned on the radio, turning it up just as a song started.

_**(Here I lie in a lost and lonely part of town...held in time…in a world of tears I slowly drown…goin' home…I just can't make it all alone. I really should be holding you…holding you…loving you…loving you.)**_

With little to no traffic this time of night, Hiei cruised along. The words to the song making him reflect on his life.

'I should have been there.' He thought again. 'I should have been holding you. I should…' His mind began to wonder. Was he being selfish? Or was it just guilt? Did he really want to see the red head or just clear his own conscious of his feelings for Shori? During his initial grieving, he'd found he was angry at Kurama for not telling him about Shori's condition. But then he remembered the red head didn't know either, that she had been keeping the secret from everyone, even her own son. So was he doing all of this because he actually cared about Kurama, or again, was it guilt? Definitely the first one, YES, he may have never said those three little words, but yes, he cared deeply for the man…but, was it truly 'love'? He thought he'd had it with Jin, but these feelings were different and it wasn't like he was ever told or shown what love was. His mind was a mess and it wasn't helping that he kept flashbacking to his own childhood.

His mother experienced complications during birth and had died a few months after delivering him and his twin. Growing up with their aunt, Hiei had always felt resentment from her, even as a young child. Sure he was provided for, had a roof over his head and food in his belly, but he couldn't help but notice the attention she gave Yukina. Yukina apparently looked just like their mother and his aunt always made sure to help her with anything she needed. Like helping with homework, fixing her hair, getting her the latest styles in clothing, teaching her the 'art' of being a woman. He just always seemed to be a lump in the way and had learned quickly to keep his mouth shut.

When he hit his early teens, he'd asked for something, not even remembering now what it was. When she told him 'no', he got mad and finally asked. "What the hell is your problem with me?"

"Everyday." She said, with a cigarette hanging between her lips. "You look more and more like your drunken, deadbeat father." She pulled the cigarette from her lips and blew a puff of smoke in his face. "And now with your attitude, you're even sounding like him."

_**(Tragedy…when the feeling's gone and you can't go on. It's tragedy. When the morning cries and you don't know why. It's hard to bear. With no-one to love you, you're goin' nowhere.)**_

That had been a blow to his heart. How was he to know he looked just like his father? No one had ever mentioned the man and he'd never even thought of him much less seen a picture. Well, that day had only been the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. One day, when he'd first started high school. He brought home a 'friend' and they went to his room. His aunt happened to come home earlier than he expected, just in time to hear his friend let out a pant cry. "Oh my God."

The door flew open to the sight of him and his 'male' friend with their pants down around their knees holding each other's dicks. She screamed and kicked out the boy so fast, he was running with his pants still undone, them slipping to his knees as he cleared the corner.

"What the HELL do you think you're doing!?" She yelled as he non-chalantly composed himself.

"Why the hell do you care?" He smirked, placing a cigarette between his lips and proceeding to light it.

She slapped him so hard, his head snapped to the side in time to see the cigarette hit the wall.

"You listen here mister." She stated through clenched teeth, pointing a finger at him. "I may not show you a lot of love…"

Hiei smirked. "You call it love." He muttered.

The smack to the other side of his face had his eyes watering.

"You will let me finish…" She growled. "I didn't ask for this. I never wanted to be a mother. That's why I never married. It was stupid for me to make a promise to your mother on her death bed because your father is nowhere to be found. If he knew what was good for him, he'd be in the dirt as well. Save us all a lot of grief. But, I told her I would raise you. I gave up 'my' life for you kids."

'Really…gave up a lot did you.' Hiei internally smirked while trying not to roll his eyes. From the time he could remember, his aunt had always gotten them a babysitter so she could go out on weekends. Sometimes she would be gone the whole weekend, only to come staggering home late Sunday night. When the twins turned eight, they were told babysitters were too expensive and were left to fend for themselves.

She was still going. "You've had a roof over your head, food in your belly and an education. And you go and re-pay me by doing this…there will be no more of that….that...'gayness' in my house…you hear me." She huffed.

His red eyes blinked. 'Is that what it's called?' He never knew there was a word for it, he just preferred other boys and thought it was normal. It's not like his aunt had ever talked to him about sex and what you were suppose to do. He'd learned what he knew from other boys and a few girls.

"Well, this will need to be taken care of…discreetly of course. You need something to distract you…I don't want rumors to start with the neighbors." She began to mutter as she walked out, closing the door behind her and leaving him standing there with his cheeks burning.

_**(Tragedy…when you lose control and you got no soul, its tragedy. When the morning cries and you don't know why. It's hard to bear. With no-one beside you, you're goin' nowhere.) **_

What she came up with was a way to get him out of her house. Within the week of what she called 'the scene', he was placed in a boarding school, actually it was a temple. His aunt had somehow made arrangements for him to be housed with a master in martial arts. In between his normal studies with a tutor, he learned various forms of martial arts. For four years, from the time he was fourteen to eighteen, when he was legally allowed to leave, he either studied or trained. From the crack of dawn, he would do his morning chores, cleaning, raking and sweeping the dojo to mid-morning then it was off to study. After lunch, he would continue his studies and after dinner till bedtime, he trained. Weekends were the opposite, concentrating on his training, with light studying, mostly reading, in the evenings.

Hiei continued to train up until his master's death, the black haired had just turned twenty-one. Hiei never went back after that, even though the dojo had been taken over by an apprentice, whom he respected, but it wasn't the same. He'd developed a bond with the old man and owed him tremendously for how his life had turned out. During hours of playing Mahjong, he'd learned to open up and talked freely with the master. He was allowed to talk about anything, even his attraction to other boys. The master would just nod his head and say. "Listen to your heart…your mind will figure it out and you will learn the true path to what makes you happy." He didn't think the master knew what he was really talking about, but appreciated the words none the less.

_**(Night and day there's a burning down inside of me. Burning love…with a yearning that won't let me be. Down I go and I just can't take it all alone. I really should be holding you…holding you…loving you…loving you.)**_

Hiei never saw his aunt again, but kept in touch with Yukina. When she finally moved out on her own, he used her place as a 'hub' of sorts as he traveled and took on various jobs.

Deciding to try out firefighting, he found he had a knack for it and started dedicating his time to training. Having learned from his master that true dedication to something you liked would get you where you wanted to be. When he heard about the EMT program, he went through the course, passing at the top of his class and ended up with a job in the same town his sister had moved to. She got involved with fund raising for the station, met his partner and the rest you could say, is history.

_**(Tragedy…when the feeling's gone and you can't go on. It's tragedy. When the morning cries and you don't know why. It's hard to bear…with no-one to love you, you're going nowhere. Tragedy…when you lose control and you got no soul…it's tragedy. When the morning cries and you don't know why. It's hard to bear…with no-one beside you're goin' nowhere.)**_

"I have a soul damn it." Hiei muttered, turning off the radio. Red eyes looked up to see flashing red and blue lights in his rearview mirror. "Damn." He cursed as he turned on his blinker and pulled over to the shoulder. "I don't need this right now." He said, watching the cop get out and walk up to his window.

A flashlight was shown in his face as he rolled down the window. "Evening officer." He said.

"More like nighttime to me." The officer said, tucking the flashlight under his arm. "Mind if I see your license and registration sir." He added.

"Sure." Hiei muttered, reaching over to the passenger seat to grab his wallet, having tossed it there after filling up. Getting the card out, he then reached up to the visor where he keep the registration and handed them over.

"Thank you." The officer said, redirecting his light. The light hit his face then would move away then hit his face again, it was getting quite annoying. "Well I'll be damned."

The officer finally said. "If I haven't pulled over the 'hotshot' Hiei Jaganshi…word has it you moved on to higher ground."

"Yep…that's me." Hiei said smugly.

Handing back the cards, the officer asked. "Where are you heading in such a hurry? You were going eighty-five in a sixty."

"Really, I didn't notice…um." Hiei had to think of the best way to explain, he ended up saying. "Family emergency." Well, that was sort of the truth.

"Oh, then I'll let you get going. Hope it's not to serious. I'd hate to see anything happen to Kuwabara or your sister." The officer said and turned off his light. "I'll radio ahead and tell the others that happen to see you to let you go on. Just be reasonable and drive safely now…give them my best and tell Kuwabara the beer tap turned out great. He's more than welcome to come and try it out." The man walked away leaving the black haired dumbfounded. 'Is there no one in this 'state' that doesn't owe Kuwabara a favor?' He snapped out of it and got back on the road, but was still shaking his head.

Finally hitting the city limits, just as the sun was coming up, Hiei began to ponder. 'Where to start first?' He thought. The most logical place would be the loft, thinking the red head might have locked himself in, refusing to face the world.

Pulling up to the warehouse, the black haired got out and went to the side door. The door was usually locked and he had returned his key to the owner, but what the owner didn't know was that you could 'pop' the door. Taking out his pocket knife, Hiei slipped it in and sure enough, the door opened.

Stepping in, he saw the bays empty. He had sold his jeep before he's left and the owner apparently came in afterwards and cleaned up his tools and such. The black haired felt bad about the jeep, he was really looking forward to getting it up and running, but he couldn't take it with him and he would never have had a chance to work on it.

Going to the metal staircase, Hiei climbed up to Kurama's door and knocked. Waiting for an answer, red eyes looked out and noted the 350Z was gone. 'Maybe he went to work.' He thought and went to knock again just as the neighbor's door opened. Out stepped a girl in here mid twenties.

"Oh…Hi." She said upon seeing him. "Haven't seen you in awhile." She added when she recognized him.

"Have you seen Kurama?" Hiei asked.

"You mean Shuiichi?" She countered, cocking her head.

"Yeah."

"No…now that you mention it…I haven't seen him in a week or so." She said.

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"Um." She said, looking up, thinking. "About a week ago, he was carrying in a bunch of boxes and I asked if he was moving. I'd really hate to see him leave. He's the best neighbor I've had. Doesn't play loud music, doesn't throw parties all the time…and cute." She looked at her watch. "Sorry, but I got to go…going to be late again." She sighed.

"Thanks." Hiei called out as she headed down the stairs.

Hiei stood there wondering what to do. Had the red head moved? He looked down at the keys still in his hand, having been subconsciously fidgeting with them. Seeing one key in particular, he smirked. 'I never gave him back his key.' He felt bad about popping the door now.

Slowing inserting the key, the black haired opened the door and waited. Not seeing any immediate movement, he stepped in, closing the door behind him.

Sure enough there was a stack of moving boxes along the wall near the kitchen, but looking around the room, Hiei couldn't see were anything had been packed. Books still lined the bookcase, dishes still sat in the cabinets and knickknacks were still in their spots. As he headed towards the boxes, Hiei noted the disorderly look to the loft. The filing cabinet was open. There were a few pieces of clothing on the bed, a dish in the sink and general things that were not in their right places. He'd realized early in the relationship that Kurama was somewhat of an OCD type of person, but you wouldn't notice if you didn't watch him. The red head would methodically organize, wipe, straighten and picked up, seeming unconsciously aware of his actions, like it was a normal thing to do.

Reaching the boxes, red eyes read the black markings. 'Mother's books.' One said, another one was marked. 'Mother's Papers.' The book box was opened, the contents looking like they had been pilfered through. One book caught his attention. It was the one he'd seen on her coffee table. Picking it up, he flipped through, reading a few of KyoHana's Haikus.

_**He's an enigma**_

_**As fierce as the desert sun**_

_**Tender is the night**_

Flipping a few pages….

_**In his element **_

_**Breath heavy upon this flesh**_

_**My midnight star burns**_

Closing the book, he held onto it as he went over to the desk. Looking at a few papers, Hiei noted receipts to a shelter. Shori's furniture, clothing and such had been donated to a women's shelter, along with a nice amount of cash. His heart sank, knowing how hard it must have been for the red head to go through this.

Looking around again, his red eyes landed on the bed. Though there were a few shirts laying across it, it had been made, but what were those? Going over, Hiei noticed two boxes sitting on the end of the folded down fox cover. One was large, about three feet, by two feet, by six inches, wrapped in a black shimmering wrapping paper with a white satin bow. The other one was smaller, about the size of a shirt box. It was wrapped in a white shimmering paper with a black satin bow.

Seeing the tag, his heart sank even more. His and Yukina's birthday had been a few weeks ago. It hadn't even dawned on him, not ever really celebrating it anyways, though Kurama had gotten him something the past two years.

The larger one was from the red head, so he opened it first. His eyes blinked as they pulled away the tissue paper. It was a coat, not just any coat, but a full length duster, as black as midnight. He had always wanted one, but could never find the right one. This one looked to be just right. Slipping it on, he walked over to a full length dressing mirror that leaned against the wall next to the bathroom. 'Where did Kurama find this?' He wondered. It looked liked it had been tailored made to fit him and knowing Kurama, that's exactly what he'd had done.

Walking over to the bed, he noted the other box was from Shori. With shaky hands, he un-wrapped it and again his eyes blinked. It was a cotton scarf, white as pure snow. Placing it around his neck, he went back over to the mirror and looked at himself. The black coat matched his hair, the white scarf highlighting the starburst part. He wanted to cry. No one had ever gotten him anything like this. Why would Kurama, and even Shori for that matter, go through all this trouble?

Leaving the wrappings, Hiei picked up the book and went to leave. Only to pause again as his eyes caught a glimpse of a framed picture sitting on the counter in the kitchen. It was of him and Kurama that had been taken over the summer in the park by Shori. Hiei was sitting on a bench with the red head standing behind him. Just as Shori went to take the picture however, Kurama had reached over, placing an arm around him and began laughing as the black haired crossed his arms and said. "Hn." Shaking his head at the memory, he grabbed the picture then walked out. He needed to find the man.

Driving around town, he stopped by Kurama's work to hear that no one had seen him since the funeral and they were worried. Telling them he would let them know when he found him, Hiei hit the road again. While keeping an eye on his watch, he checked a few hangouts the two went to. He then stopped by the station, the park and even the cemetery. No luck. Checking the time, he growled. He was tired, hungry and in need of a shower. It was time to check in with his sister.

_**(Present)**_

Kurama put the item down again, he'd been fidgeting with it to much and it wasn't time. He needed to finish his tale, needed to clear his conscious, his head and make sure he was in the right frame of mind first.

"You had come back, the boxes were opened. I hope that means you liked the gifts. I also noticed the picture was missing." He smiled, shaking his head. "I can't believe I forgot about the key." Cocking his head, he asked. "I am curious…if I had said those three little words…would they have made a difference?" Green eyes looked up at the sky. "I know I never said them out loud to either of you, but I did love you both, in my heart."

Lightly chuckling, the red head let a cold shiver shudder through his body. "There I go again, getting off subject. I need to be finishing up." He said, looking around at the approaching darkness. "I'm running out of time and probably boring you to death…if you'll pardon the pun."

Shifting to get comfortable, the red head moved to lay along his right side, still not caring that the ground was soaked and muddy. Something in his right coat pocket poked his side and he leaned up enough to fish it out. The ruby pendant Kuronue had given him stared back at him. He'd forgotten all about it when he'd went through his personal things earlier. Placing the chain around his neck, he found himself fingering it, remembering the man who'd once worn it.

Shaking his head again, for he was stalling, again, he said. "Where was I? Oh…the birth of Youko Enterprises. It only took me six months to get Karasu to heel. I knew I had to be on the same playing field to make it work. The first two weeks were the hardest. You know I hate traveling, but I needed to call in every favor and play all the dirty little tricks I knew in person to get started. I learned more from him than I thought. You might not believe it, but he has, well, had a lot of backers and supporters. In my 'negotiations' however, I found a few who wanted Karasu to pay for one reason or another. What I was offered, I took. What I couldn't get, I took." With his fingers still toying with the necklace, he smirked. "Hn…I was surprised I stayed one step ahead of the law. With the insider trading and all the money I was moving around and don't forget the 'very' hostile takeovers. I could have had my name up there with Enron. Well…maybe not that bad, how about Martha Stewart." He fell back onto the ground with a hardy laugh. "I wonder if she would have offered to decorate my cell." Wiping away a tear, he sat back up and his voice turned soft. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone, but it was unavoidable. I just kept telling myself I would make it better when it was all over with. Oh…" He seemed to remember. "Before I went out of town…you might like to know I made sure mother's friends were taken care of. I didn't want her to worry."

_**(Flashback-Kuwabara's residence- before Hiei's return)**_

"Dad!" Kuwabara's son, Kaisei yelled. "You're not playing fair. You always use the Spirit Sword." The eight year old crossed his arms and flopped on the couch with a heavy huff.

"Yeah dad, he's right, you're not playing fair." Kaisei's twin sister Fubuki cried from the floor as she tried to counter her dad's attacks while striking out with an elbow.

Their orange haired dad was sitting cross legged on the floor, staring at his flat screen TV while trying to keep his daughter from shoving him. "Back off…I can't help it if I'm the 'Soldier of Love'."

The twins rolled their eyes at the remark. "Geez dad, last time you were the Righteous Warrior." Kaisei said.

"No he wasn't…he was the Noble Champion." Fubuki countered, doing her own huffy as her fingers beat the buttons.

"No…he was…"

"No…he was…." The two started to argue until finally Kuwabara cut them off.

"ENOUGH! He yelled. "I can't help it if I'm tough and good looking." He praised, fingers flying over the buttons.

"Yeah right." The twins said in unison. "We'll just get Uncle Yusuke to come over and kick your butt…AGAIN."

"Bite me you two."

"Hey you two…time for showers and getting your stuff ready for school tomorrow." Yukina said as she entered the den.

"Ah mom." The twins groaned, again, in unison.

"Go." She said pointing and the pair jumped like recruits at basic training.

With the two grumbling as they left, Kuwabara put up the controllers. When they were out of ear shot, Yukina said.

"Kazuma."

"What's up love?" He said, seeing the look on her face as he joined her on the couch, looking at the newspaper in her hand.

"Read this." She said, handing it over.

**MAINTANCE MAN CHARGED WITH MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS OF SABOTAGE AND FALSEFYING REPORTS**

**A county man was arraigned today in court for multiple charges including arson. Shigure, a 43 year old maintenance man that has worked for the East End Assistant Living Complex for 15 years, was arrested Friday for charges ranging from forgery to arson. A police spokesman stated. "A tip was received on our hotline that got us to investigate Mr. Shigure. Upon further investigation, a warrant was issued for the subject's apartment where evidence was found linking Mr. Shigure to the recent incidents that have been plaguing the Complex." **

Yukina watched as her husband as he mouthed the article. When he finished, he asked. "So…what about it? Some nut case getting his trills."

"You remember me telling you about Kurama's mother and the problems her place was having, you even got called out for that boiler fire." Yukina said.

"Oh yeah, you mean…"

"Yeah, that's where Kurama's mother lived."

a)a)a)a

A week later and Yukina's pacing had only increased as the days past. Finally relaxing some after hearing from her brother, late the night before that he was finally on his way. She was happy she was going to see her brother, but felt bad that she'd had no luck finding Kurama and wanted to hear if Hiei had found him or heard anything.

Just as the sun was setting, she heard the storm door open. Walking down the hall, she watched as the main door opened and Hiei walked in.

"Brother." She said, running the rest of the way and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Any word?" Hiei asked as he hugged back then let go so he could step into the kitchen.

"No." Yukina answered, shaking her head. "I've had everyone I know keeping an eye out and no one has seen him or heard from him, but." She added, reaching over to pick up a newspaper that had been laying on the counter. "I think you might be interested in reading this." She watched as Hiei scanned the article, stop, and read it again, very intently. Fire began to burn in his eyes.

_**(Present)**_

Kurama tried to slick back his hair, it was starting to dry now that it had quit raining, but it was frizzing up and getting in his face. "I knew I had made some people mad." He said. "The threatening phone calls confirmed that." He smirked. "Karasu even called me personally, taunting me 'that all you got…you can do better…I thought I taught my pet better than that'." The red head turned it into a smile. "Oh…I was just getting started. That little bit of work had been done for mother. I didn't think Karasu would cause me any problems, but I did get accosted by a few thugs after I took over…there I go again, getting ahead…remind me to get back to that though. You'll get a nice laugh out of it. But first, you always have to make a first and lasting impression, right? My first true mission wasn't a problem, it hurt personally, but it was necessary. The true goal was the one where I ended up getting a little bit of a repercussion from."

End Chapter 10

Again, thank you(s) goes to KyoHana.

Lyrics to the song: _**Tragedy**_ - by: _The Bee Gees_


	11. Chapter 11

Thanks…

Chapter 11

_**(Present)**_

Green eyes looked to the lowering sun, which was barely visible due to the increase in clouds. Lovely, another bout of rain was coming. 'What's that saying?' Kurama thought. 'The skies shall weep on a day of sorrow. Hn…today is more like a day of penitence.' He needed to be finishing up. Arching his back, he managed to 'pop' it in several places, easing the tightness that had occurred from having sat so long. The red head then cleared his throat, bringing up a pale, numb, hand to rub it. His throat was raw, burning from having talked so much. It'd never occurred to him to bring a drink for he hadn't thought he would be talking this long. "Like…" He began, but ended up choking. Coughing and clearing his throat, he tried again, his voice now raspy. "Like I was saying, my first true mission wasn't a problem, it hurt personally, but it was necessary. Getting to the true goal was where I ended up getting a little bit of a repercussion from."

_**(Flashback – 4 ½ months ago)**_

Mr. Takanaka looked at his board of directors with a grim face. "Anyone know the latest?" He asked of the seven men and three women who were all just as grim as they sat around the oval table in the conference room.

One woman looked at her legal pad before speaking. "Sir…I heard from someone that Tourin Incorporated was taken over this week."

One man spoke up. "Gandhara Corporation was taken over just last week…whoever this is, their moving fast and they know what their doing." He related.

Mr. Takanaka gave an understanding nod, saying. "I guess I should go ahead and tell you." He picked up a memo and passed it to his right. "I just got word before I came in here…it looks like the share holders have shifted. Someone managed to buy fifteen shares yesterday just before closing. Someone out there now owns fifty-one percent of this company."

There was an audible gasp from the group. Murmurs soon started as they conversed among themselves. Finally someone said. "Did you get a name?"

Mr. Takanaka placed his hands together, bringing them up to his chin as he said calmly. "Youko Enterprises."

There was silence as the news sank in. Then the murmuring restarted as they tried to find out who knew anything.

Just as Mr. Takanaka was about to speak, the door opened and in walked Shuiichi. "Sorry I'm late…I had to stop by the printers." He said.

Everyone looked at him with surprise on their faces. No one in the company had seen the red head for weeks and here he was walking in like nothing was wrong.

"Shuiichi." Mr. Takanaka whispered, stunned to see his right hand man. The poor boy had been gone for six weeks and probably had no idea what had been happening. He got up and walked over to the red head, shaking his hand and patting him on the back. "I'm happy to see your back but…you couldn't have returned at a worse time. We seem to be in the mist of a hostile takeover and I'm afraid I don't have time to bring you up to par."

Shuiichi looked at his 'boss' with a nod. "I'm well aware of the situation." He said calmly and moved to the empty chair next to the head of the table. Placing his briefcase on the table, he opened it and began taking out bound folders, which he then started passing around.

Mr. Takanaka stood where he was for a moment, not understanding how the red head was even remotely aware of what had been happening over the past few weeks. When he went back and took his seat, there was a folder on the table in front of him and he looked at it in disbelief. The name Youko Enterprises was staring him right back in the face. With fear and unbelieving doubt, he began to flip through the folder and scan the pages, seeing where companies, including Tourin and Gandhara had been taken over by Youko. The last company on the list was Takanaka. He looked at his assistant, not wanting to believe the boy knew all of this, there were even names of companies that he didn't even know had been acquired.

"I'm glad you are all here." Shuiichi said when everyone had a chance to look at the folder. "It will save me some time." He added.

Everyone was looking at him, not one understanding how he could have obtained this information.

"I know you're wondering what's going on. Well, I can tell you…as of today…all the companies on the list you see before you have been merged, they are now…Youko Enterprises."

"What happened?" Some one called out.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Someone else said.

"Who is this Youko?" Someone else said.

"Shuiichi." Mr. Takanaka said softly, since he was sitting right next to the red head, he didn't need to raise his voice.

"Sir." Shuiichi said, looking down at the man.

"How did you get this information?" His boss asked.

Green eyes closed and Shuiichi took a deep breath. "I'm sorry sir, but I needed the resources and the assets." He said.

Mr. Takanaka stood up so fast, his chair rolled back into the wall. "What are you saying boy." He said through clenched teeth, not wanting to believe what he'd just heard.

Shuiichi couldn't look at his former boss. Instead he focused on the men and women around the table. All of whom were sitting just as stunned in their chairs. "I am Youko Enterprises and I assure you…" He paused and made eyes contact with each of them. "No one will lose their job."

"This is an outrage." Mr. Takanaka said. "How dare you."

_**(Present) **_

"That's the part that hurt the worse. Mr. Takanaka believed in me and I repaid him by double crossing him. I'd hoped to make it up to him by making sure he was provided for. I made sure he had a big incentive package and told him he should look at it as an early retirement." Kurama lowered his head. "I don't know if I expected him to forgive me or not. I haven't talked to him since, even after I…later…that part comes later." There was silence.

"I know you're wondering why Youko Enterprises." The red head finally said, looking at the name on the stone. "I knew I needed a strong name." He shook his head with a small sigh. "I knew Minamino wouldn't do it and then I got to thinking. I needed a way to disassociate myself so I could basically steal and acquire whatever I needed. _(sigh)_ So I could get to my true goal without feeling any emotions… _(shrug)_…one way or the other. Who else was like that…Youko Kurama? Yes, the name alone sent shivers down the spines of people in the books…so why not the real world. I became the modern spirit thief. Oh… _(smirk)_…I let the companies I bought, well stole actually, keep their names. That was until I took over Takanaka. Then I merged them into Youko. It was time after all…time to let the word get out and I had been right. Whenever that name was said, people took noticed and fear spread through out the markets." Kurama paused to let his throat rest and took the moment to rub his red, itchy eyes. Swallowing, he continued. "After the meeting with the board at Takanaka, word quickly spread about my goal...'that' was when I encountered my repercussion." He smirked. "It was pretty early one morning, the sun not quite up yet. I just happened to go home the night before and decided to stop at Starbucks the next morning to get some coffee… when I got outside and was heading towards the car…"

_**(Flashback) **_

Shuiichi took a sip of hot coffee as he cleared the doors of Starbucks. It was so hot and good, he almost blatantly smacked his lips at the taste. The office coffee was terrible and not having left the office in three days, he deserved the treat. He knew he could have sent someone to get the coffee for him, but he wasn't that type of person. If he couldn't get something himself, he did without. The only reason he'd finally left the office was because he couldn't put off going home any longer. He'd needed to check his mail and get a change of clothes. His office had its own private bathroom, complete with shower, but he hadn't thought to bring clothes with him and again, he knew he could have sent someone to get them, but, well he did need to get out for awhile.

Making it to the Z, Shuiichi fumbled for his keys while balancing the hot liquid. Putting the bag that contained his breakfast croissant on top of the car, he unlock the door and began to open it. It only made it an inch or so however before it was slammed shut. Turning, green eyes saw a burly man standing behind him.

"Can I help you?" He asked, while deep down wondering if he should be scared.

"Are you Shuiichi Minamino?" The man asked, crossing his arms.

"It depends…who wants to know?" Shuiichi asked turning and leaning his rear against the car door. He could see another man watching from a few feet away.

"Don't know what type of game you think you're playing, but I've been told to deliver a message." He said.

"Oh." The red head said, taking a sip of coffee.

"Mr. Karasu is aware of what you're trying to do…he's says if you think you can take him down, then by all means try. But you won't get away with it and he says he will see you out on the streets, eating out of trashcans."

"I see." Shuiichi muttered. "Well." He said aloud. "You can tell your boss that his threat was delivered and that if I'm going to be out on the streets, I'll try to stay away from his favorite eating holes…I wouldn't want to impose on his dinner with the rats."

"You think this is a joke." The man said uncrossing his arms and taking a step closer, which made the red head get on his tiptoes, for the guy was already in his personal space. The man that had been watching from afar started to walk closer.

"No." Shuiichi said, now thinking he might need to defend himself. He really hated to lose the coffee, but…

"Is there a problem sir?" He heard from the other side of his car.

The voice sounded familiar, but the red head couldn't place it just yet.

"No Problem? You can just mosey on." The man said, looking over the red head at the intruder.

"Why don't I just stay and make sure." The newcomer said and the red head could hear him moving around the car. When he was in sight, Shuiichi almost didn't recognize the man.

"Bui." He said.

"Morning sir." The doorman to the apartments Shuiichi once lived in said. He was not wearing his uniform, which was the reason it took Shuiichi a moment to recognize who he was. He was wearing a pair of gray jogging pants with a deep blue muscle shirt drenched with sweat making it cling to his body.

"I said back off, this is between me and the pretty boy here." The brute said.

Shuiichi inwardly groaned. 'Pretty boy.' But he said. "I think we're done. You have delivered your message and I'm late for work, so…" He turned and proceeded to get in his car. It was a tight move as the man was still standing way to close to him, but he managed to turn and crack the door.

"No…we're not." The man growled, using his body to pin the red head to car, making the door re-shut.

Shuiichi held up his cup of coffee as his body hit the car. The brute then reached for his other arm and was proceeding to twist it behind his back. The red head really didn't want to do it, it was a really good cup of brew and he hated to lose it, but he sacrificed it, tossing it behind him over a shoulder. The man cried out as the hot liquid hit his face and ran down his neck. Bui took that moment to come up and grabbing the man, twisted him around and pushed him away from the red head.

"You alright sir?" He asked. The man that had been standing back watching ran over to his friend who was still swatting his face. Bui crossed his arms and moved to stand in front of the red head. He then gave a death glare to the men, basically telling them 'you better leave while you have the chance.'

A small crowd had formed when the man cried out, but Shuiichi stayed calm, brushing off his suit as he spoke. "Yes Bui…thank you for your assistance."

The man saw the look Bui was giving and helping his friend, hurried off after seeing people staring. Once it looked like it was all over, the crowd went about their business.

Bui moved aside and Shuiichi picked up the now empty coffee cup, looking at it like he had lost his best friend.

"Sorry about your coffee sir." Bui said.

"Thank you." The red head muttered. "It is a shame. I usually don't get that good of a cup." He added softly.

"If you're sure you're alright. I need to get going." Bui said and proceeded to walk away.

Green eyes looked at the man, then down at the coffee cup again. "Bui!" He called out, getting the man's attention. When the doorman turned back, he said. "Do you have time for a cup of coffee? My treat!"

_**(Present)**_

"Okay." Kurama said, shaking his head. "Maybe it wasn't that funny, I guess you had to be there, but I was right. My second cup wasn't as good. Anyways, that's how Bui ended up being my bodyguard." The red head smiled. "Bet you didn't know it, but Bui's an ex-Naval Seal and a trainer at the local gym." He shook his head again. "Anyways… something that day made me realize, if Karasu was willing to go through all that trouble to scare me, then he might be willing to do more. After all, within just a few weeks, I was literally knocking on his back door."

_**(Flashback 3 months ago)**_

Karasu walked out of the building, slamming the door back on its hinges, Kaitou was right on his heels.

"That son of a bitch." Karasu said to no one in particular.

"Sir." Yuu said, hearing the anger in his boss's voice.

"How is he doing it?" Karasu hissed.

Yuu swallowed. "Doing what sir?"

Karasu ignored him, but continued to mutter to himself. "If I didn't know better, I would say he's got someone on the inside."

Yuu gulped again.

"At this rate, he'll own a third of the companies within the month." Karasu said. "Those backstabbers…thinking they're safe from me by going under his protection." The black haired turned to his assistant. "Call a board meeting. I want everyone still left in my office by nightfall."

"Yes sir." Yuu barked.

"Do you really think that will help?" Both men turned to see Shuiichi standing by the door. He had just stepped out when Karasu issued the order.

Karasu walked up to the red head, saying. "You've giving it a valiant effort my boy, but I'm not out yet. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

Shuiichi let the man approach, when he'd finished, the red head replied. "I would watch your self Karasu. You're on a sinking ship and many are willing to climb over your ass to get out of it, leaving you behind to go down with it."

Karasu was fuming, but behind him, Yuu was trying hard to control a smirk. "I will not go down without a fight. I'll see you burn in hell." The black haired fumed.

"I wouldn't expect anything less." Shuiichi said, moving around his former boss. "But, I really doubt I'll get that luxury." He quirked and a small smirk played over his lips.

A black sedan pulled up and all three watched as Bui got out and moved around to open the back passenger's door. "Ready to go sir?" He asked.

"Yes…thank you Bui." Shuiichi said, not seeing the look on the other two's faces as he stepped towards the car. Bui held the door open for the red head and just before he stepped into the car, Bui handed him a Blackberry. The red head took it and looked back before getting in.

"One more thing you forgot Karasu." He said. When he didn't get a reply, he just shrugged and said. "You should remember…I did learn from the best." Shuiichi closed the door, but then window rolled down. "Oh…and one more thing." He called out. When the two looked at him, he held up the Blackberry. "I said I would throw you a bone…well here it is. Your company Koorime stock's just dropped twenty dollars a share." The window rolled back up and the sedan drove off.

"Damn." Karasu muttered.

_**(Present)**_

"One notch at a time, that's how I got him. Working day and night, night and day, eating away at his holdings. Closing him down, one section at a time." Kurama said. "That was my only goal, the only thing I was living for…the only thing that kept me breathing." He shuddered at the non-stop pace he'd put himself through to accomplish what he did in a just a few short months.

"Now don't get me wrong." He waved a hand. "I did do a few good things. I managed to help some keep their jobs, most moving up in the ranks and getting pay raises. I even made sure to send a check to station fifty-one when I received the postcard inviting me back to the annual picnic and dance." He lowered his head in thought before continuing. "I wish I could have been there to see the look on Yukina's face. I'd just gotten a hold of Karasu's penthouse and we turned around and sold it for a pretty nice profit. I thought the extra money should go to a worthy cause, but atlas I had to go out of town and missed it. It was probably for the best since I don't think I would have felt comfortable because….that doesn't matter now." When he looked back up, there were fresh tears in his eyes. "Though I was wondering what rock Karasu was trying to crawl under at the time and out of helping the people I could. I truly regret that I ended up hurting more in the end. I couldn't avoid it. I can only hope that wherever they are…they can forgive me for what I did and though I keep trying to tell myself…by hurting them…I will help so many more in the end."

_**(Flashback-happening at the same time as the last flashback)**_

Enma King looked around the room at the ten young men under his care. These men had trained hard these last three months and now it had all been done in vain.

"Gentlemen." He said, clearing his throat to get their attention. "I'm afraid the reason why I've called you all here, isn't to tell you that we are not on track, but to tell you that the resort will not be opening as planned."

There was murmuring heard as everyone tried to understand.

"How far behind schedule are they?" Someone asked.

"Only a month." Enma said and someone muttered.

"That's not bad…we can just kept training." Everyone muttered their agreement to the idea.

Enma cleared his throat, again, to get their attention. "I hate to be the one to tell you all this, but when the resort opens, it's not going to be needing your services."

"What!" They all said as one.

"Now calm down and let me explain. I've received word early this morning that the resort has been acquired." He held up his hand to stop anyone from trying to interrupt him. "All I can tell you is that construction of the resort has been altered to house a Hospice facility of some sort…Shore's place…or something like that. The place is being reworked to house terminally ill patients and offer alternative treatments. Since there will be no additional skiers or hikers from the resort. The squad is officially being disbanded as of this moment."

There were immediate outbursts and it took a few minutes for Enma to get the room quiet again.

When he did, he said. "Now I'd hate to see you boys go away empty handed." And he began passing out sheets of paper.

Hiei had been sitting quietly at the back of the room, he was the only one who didn't say a word or show any emotion to anything he'd just heard. Receiving a copy of the paper, his red eyes scanned over a list of jobs in their fields. Enma continued.

"I took the liberty of getting together a list of job openings here and near this area. I have talked to all the Captains and Heads of departments personally and put in a good word for each of you.

_**(Present)**_

Kurama looked up at the sky. "I had hoped deep down that maybe you would have come back. But I guess you couldn't forgive me for taking away your dream job. I just hope you understand that I 'had' to close the resort. It was the last nail in Karasu's coffin. He had made a big business mistake, tying up so many resources into getting it built, that when I was able to get a hold of it, it broke him financially and physically. After that, it was like a house of cards falling and all I had to do was make sure I was the one there to pick them up."

_**(Flashback – a week ago)**_

Yuu didn't even knock as he hurriedly opened the office door and practically running to the desk, breathed out. "Sir…there's someone here to see you."

"Yuu." Karasu said, not looking up from his laptop. "Go away, I'm busy?"

"But sir." Yuu said, looking back at the door, nervousness clearly evident in his posture.

Karasu was franticly typing away. "If I expect to get anything out of this mess." He stated. "I need to solidify my personal assets. I don't have time for a peon who is having a panic attack. Just tell everyone to vacate as schedule." He mashed the keypad and pushed the laptop back away from him. "Damn." He muttered. "Pennies on the dollar."

"But sir." Yuu said again, again looking at the door. He gulped as the person who had been waiting stepped in.

"That's quite alright Yuu…I can see myself in."

Karasu looked up from his desk. "What the hell do you want?" He asked.

"I just came to see how the eviction was going. You know the city has plans to start tearing this building down in just a few short days. The downtown district is looking forward to their new public parking garage." Shuiichi said casually, walking over to stand in front of the desk.

Karasu held a retort.

"Remember." Shuiichi said when nothing was said. "The furniture stays…but don't worry. I'm donating it and I'll make sure to send you the tax receipts." A red eyebrow arched. "It's a tax write off you know."

Karasu still held his tongue.

"Just a few more things and I'll get out of your way. I can see you're busy." Shuiichi said, looking around the large office and seeing all the boxes packed and in the process of being packed.

"What are they?" Karasu grumbled.

Shuiichi turned back to face the black haired. "You seem to be taking this better than I thought."

Karasu couldn't deny that he had been beaten. He had greatly underestimated the red head and the only thing he could do now was get it over with and move on. "I don't have all day." He muttered.

"So you don't…I'll make it simple then." The red head said. "First, I had Yuu here stop the shredding."

Karasu looked at Yuu, who tried to look innocent and just shrugged.

"Tsk, tsk Mr. Karasu. You know better than to try and destroy important documents." Shuiichi scolded. "Second." He went on. "Make sure all the computers and equipment stay. They belong to the company and the company belongs to me." He looked at the laptop on the desk. "That means that one too."

"You've put a lot of good people out of work." Karasu finally said, standing. He knew the red head had a soft heart and wondered how this news was eating on his conscious.

"I'm aware of that." Shuiichi said. "But I'm also helping people."

The black haired let out a deep chuckle. "Oh my dear pet. You think converting a multi-million dollar resort into some housing for the terminally ill. Giving those poor fools a false sense of hope. Telling them they can live longer, by extending their already weak, pathetic, pitiful, suffering life is 'helping'." Karasu moved to stand right in front of the red head. "You're more of an optimist than I thought." He muttered.

Shuiichi controlled his response, he didn't expect this putrid of man to understand his creating of Shori's place. "I don't expect someone like you to understand." He said softly then seemed to shrug it off. "But, being optimistic is what got me where I am. AND you where you are."

"Well." Karasu said taking a hand and fingering a red lock. "As the old cliché goes, you may have won this battle, but you haven't won the war, my pet."

"Get out of 'my' building." Shuiichi said firmly, stepping back to get the man to let go of his hair. "You can leave word at the front desk as to which alley you will be living in."

Karasu looked at the red head for a moment. "Let's go Yuu." He said and proceeded to walk out.

Yuu just stood there. He had been standing there patiently while the two squabbled.

The black haired paused and looked back with his hand on the door when he realized he wasn't being followed. "Yuu…time to go." He tried not to growl.

"I…I can…can't sir." Yuu stuttered, looking down at his shoes.

"And why not?" Karasu wasn't amused.

"Sir." Yuu looked to Shuiichi.

"Oh…I'm sorry Yuu." The red head reached into his inner coat pocket. Pulling out a thick white envelope, he said. "Here you go."

Taking the envelope, Yuu asked. "And my dad's car dealership?" He was trying to look hopeful.

"Everything is as it should be. But remember our deal…you work for good ol' dad from this day forth." Shuiichi said.

"I understand."

"Yuu." Karasu looked at the boy with raised eyebrows. "It was you?"

"I had no…no choice…I should get going." Yuu said, heading for the door.

"You never can get good help these days." Karasu muttered.

"One last request Yuu…if you don't mind." The red head said, stopping him.

"Of course sir." Yuu said, coming back over.

Shuiichi took a business card out of his shirt pocket then reached over and grabbed a pen off the desk. Scribbling on the card, he said. "Would you please call the number on this card and tell the person to meet me at the address I wrote on the back. Tell them that they will want to hear what I have to say and that I won't take too much of their time."

"Right away sir." Yuu said and almost bowed.

"Thank you. Afterwards you may leave." Shuiichi said, basically dismissing the brown haired, freckled face man.

When Yuu had left, Karasu said. "I will rebuild."

Shuiichi smirked and walked over to the black haired. Leaning in next to an ear, he whispered. "Not in this lifetime." And walked out, not looking back.

_**(Present)**_

"Good old Yuu." Kurama smirked. "He was a great help. All he needed was a little…prompting. Just a little provoking can get you far in life. It had been a good day, though I wasn't done. I still had one last thing to do."

_**(Flashback) **_

Shuiichi sat at a booth, sipping a cup of coffee. Looking at his watch, he was not surprised the person he'd had Yuu call was not going to met him. Thinking he should just leave and try to find the person another way, he looked up, this time in surprise, to see the person walking towards him.

The man slid into the booth as Shuiichi said. "Thank you for coming sir."

"I almost didn't." The man huffed.

"What changed your mind?" The red head asked, reaching beside him to pull out a thick manila folder from underneath his coat.

Mr. Takanaka leaned forward, placing his arms on the table. "I've always liked you, my boy." He said. "And I thought if nothing else." He waited until green eyes looked at him. "I could at least ask you 'why?'.

Shuiichi held out the folder, saying. "Everything you'd want to know will be in here."

Takanaka hesitated. "I'm not in the mood for another game Shuiichi." He said, raising a hand in refusal to the waitress offering coffee. He then looked at the thick file in the red head's hand. Only to then think back to the last time he'd opened a folder, to see his company, his blood, sweat and tears had been hostility taken over by the man sitting across from him.

"I am sorry sir." Shuiichi said when his saw the man hesitating. "It is too much for me to try and explain right now and no offense…I have a lot to do before the day is over…if you would please just look at the folder." He said placing it on the table in front of the man across from him.

Mr. Takanaka flipped the file open, his eyes widening as he scanned the pages. "You…you can't be serious." He breathed.

"I am." Shuiichi said, taking a sip of coffee.

"You're giving me all your shares and turning the company back over to me."

"Yes…I will make sure it's all taken care of by the end of this business day." The red head assured.

"Why."

"I'm done. As you can see, I did what I had set out to do. I shut down Karasu Incorporated and liquidated the assets. I sold the building to the city, pretty cheaply. I'm afraid we took a bath on that deal, but you might be happy to know…they're turning it into a public parking garage. As for all the companies I bought up and merged." Shuiichi cocked his head and said. "The company might be a little bigger than when you left it."

"But what do you plan to do?" Mr. Takanaka asked.

The red head shrugged. "Like I said, I'm done." He answered, refusing a refill from the waitress.

"But…" The man didn't understand.

"I know I have no right to ask after what I did, but I do have one small request." Shuiichi said, picking up his coat and fishing out his wallet.

"Anything my boy." Mr. Takanaka said finding himself not being able to stay mad at the young man.

Shuiichi tossed a few bills on the table before saying. "In that paperwork you will find that Karasu's once future resort has been turned into a Hospice for terminally ill patients. It's called Shori's place. The facility has been outfitted with the best equipment available. It also has the best doctors, nutritionists, nurses, physical therapists and caregivers available. All I ask is that you find someone you trust to run the foundation and take care of the money I have put in a separate account for its operating costs. Make sure the place thrives from it, by making sure it gets the best of the best of anything it needs." The red head stood and put on his coat.

"Why can't it be you?"

Shuiichi paused and stared at his former boss. "I'm too tired." Was all he said and began to walk away.

"So was it worth it?"

The red head paused, seeming to think of what to say, though finally saying. "Hn…I'm not so sure anymore."

_**(Present)**_

"And I'm still not. Though I am sure giving Takanaka back his company was the 'right' thing to do. I'd completed my goal. I didn't need it anymore and I no longer lacked the drive to continue running it anyways. I was…am just too tired." Kurama admitted, thinking back. "Hn." He finally smirked. "Sorry if I'm still boring you. Believe me. I didn't think I would be this long, but if it will make you feel any better. I think I'm boring myself now." He joked, shifting some to get more comfortable. "I, unfortunately, have one last part my friend and then I assure you, I will be done."

_**(Flashback - morning - present day) **_

Yukina walked down the hall, tying her robe around her waist. The sun was just peeking over the horizon and she was just about to get in the shower when she heard the doorbell ring. "Kazuma." She said, opening the door. "Did you forget your key again?" Her husband had worked the nightshift and he always seemed to forget his keys when he worked nights. She ended up pausing however when she realized it wasn't her husband at the door, but Kurama.

Seeing Yukina in a robe, Kurama blushed and said. "Is this a bad time?"

Not having seen the man in months, the last time being his mother's funeral. She blinked her red eyes at how thin he looked, how his dress coat seemed to hang on his already lean frame. She finally said. "No…no, not at all…come in?" She moved back, holding the door open so the red head could step in.

"I'm sorry to come unannounced and so early." Kurama began. "But I remembered that I had forgotten to get this to Hiei. I have something important to do today and won't really have another opportunity after today either." He rambled out.

Yukina finally noticed the box in the red head's arms. It was about 24 inches square and was labeled 'Things for Hiei.'

When Yukina didn't say anything, Kurama said. "Can you make sure he knows I dropped it off? Mother left him a few things, books mostly and some of it is things he'd left at my place."

Yukina blinked and shook her head, her eyes had moved from the box to Kurama's face. She'd been studying how tired and pale the man looked. How dull his usually vibrant red head was, there was sadness in his equally dull green eyes. He appeared to be dragged down by life. "Of course." She finally said. "Could you do me a favor and take it out to the garage and put it with his other stuff?" She asked, heading towards the garage door off the kitchen and turning on the light.

"Of course." Kurama said, moving around her and going into the garage.

Yukina didn't know how much time she had, but she ran to the phone in the den and dialed the number that was scribbled on a pad near it.

It began to ring and she silently prayed the person she was hoping would pickup was there. "Southern Yama Ranger Station." Someone finally picked up and said.

"Hiei." Yukina whispered when she recognized her brother's voice.

"Yukina." Came the reply.

"He's here." Was all she had to say.

"Stall him…I'm on my way." The phone went dead.

a)a)a)a

Kurama maneuvered around the stacks of boxes and other items until he came to pile that looked like it belonged to Hiei. He went to sit the box down when something sticking out of another one caught his attention.

Arching an eyebrow, the red head put down the box and went to touch it, only to pull his hand back like it had been burned. 'I shouldn't.' He thought, yet in the back of his mind he knew it could work. He'd been thinking about how to do it and many scenarios he had thought of, had been tossed for various reasons.

"Everything okay out there." He heard Yukina yell.

Not wanting her to come out, he yelled back. "It's fine." And found himself grabbing the item and shoving it in his coat.

Coming back into the kitchen, Kurama saw Yukina by the stove with the tea kettle. She had put on a pair of slacks and a blouse.

"Would you like some tea?" She asked, turning her back to get teacups out.

"No…thank you. I really should be going." Kurama said and moved to leave.

Knowing her brother needed at least four hours from his new job, she resorted to pleading.

"I haven't seen you in weeks. Surely you have some time to enjoy a nice cup of tea." She said looking right at him and giving him a puppy dog face.

Kurama didn't have a hope, she had that same look as Hiei did when he played that card and he couldn't refuse. Sitting down at the kitchen table, he told himself. 'I guess I can consider this my last meal of sorts.'

a)a)a)a

The forest green Jeep Liberty drove down the slushy roads. A heavy, wet snow, the size of cotton balls was falling in thick clumps making the windshield wipers squeak as they valiantly strived to keep the glass clear, but they fell just short. Hiei Jaganshi leaned forward in his seat, peering intently out at the road, the headlights barely illuminating the asphalt in front of him.

The song he'd been ignoring finished playing as he took a slug from his water bottle.

_(DJ)_ "Its six-thirty a.m. here in the Tri county area and boy are we getting hammered."

"No shit." He grumbled, red eyes blinking at the brightness of the snow, looking almost yellowish in the glare.

_(DJ)_ "The weather dude has issued an advisory, with two to three inches of precipitation expected by this evening, so watch for local flooding. In the mountains, the rain has turned into a heavy wet snow, up to a foot possible. The Highway commission has issued a travel advisory. If you don't need to be out…don't be."

"Oh, I would agree, but…just keep stalling him Yukina." Hiei murmured as he looked down at the gauges. He had half a tank of gas and two hours, at least…no, at forty-five miles an hour, make it three, if he was lucky. 'Damn, how did I ever talk myself into this?' He thought he wouldn't have a problem with the four to five month snow season, but there was only one, minor, little problem. He hated snow, always had ever since he was a child. While other kids were out having snowball fights, making snowmen and building ice forts, he was sitting inside the house miserable. Maybe, subconsciously, it had something to do with the fact that his aunt had told him, when he was old enough to understand, that his mother had died during a snow storm.

After being turned down for all the other jobs he'd applied for since the resort closed, well not closed, had been re-zoned was a better term. And with each place basically telling him, 'Sorry, but we don't need another hot-shot hero.' Apparently King's good word had the opposite effect for him. He'd finally taken the job of a forest ranger in the southern part of Yama. The job was a joke, at least right now during the winter season. Him and another guy, his 'boss' got to live at the station. The log cabin was set up as an office downstairs with a sleeping loft above. There was a small kitchen and full bathroom off the office. Food and supplies were brought in when needed by snowmobile and that was about the jest of it. Hiei was so bored, he couldn't wait till spring and the chance to get out and do something. Also because of the weather and, he had to admit, thinking about Kurama, he hadn't been sleeping well.

When he had taken the job, he'd made sure he had called Yukina to let her know where he was and how to get a hold of him. He had long ago given up on trying to call Kurama and had told his sister that if she heard from the red head, to let him know.

He still thought sometimes about why he didn't head back to town. Maybe he was afraid Kurama would refuse him. Still be mad at him for walking out on their relationship, if that's what you could call it. Maybe he didn't want to face the guys at the station, for in a way, he had walked out on them as well. He doubted he could even get his old job back anyways. Most of the time, when you wanted to return to a station, after an extended leave, you had to start basic training all over again as a rookie. After getting through that, he would then have to take the EMT course again and that was a pain in the ass.

But deep down something felt right about what he'd just done, the up and leaving liked he'd did. Yukina calls and says Kurama's there at the house and here he was scrambling to get to him. Even quitting his job to get back to a man he didn't know would even still want him or not. He only hoped that if Kurama wasn't at the house when he got there that Yukina would have found out where he was heading and then he could track him from there.

_(DJ)_ "The closings will be read again at the top of the hour, but now it's time for your stupid news, a man in the City walked into the local area MacDougal's armed with a hatchet. Brandishing the weapon at the cashier, he then began demanding they bring back the Western Omelet sandwich. Unfortunately for the man, Sheriff Deputies, who just happen to be on the premises, quickly apprehended the man and carted him to jail. Can you imagine that, I guess he had an 'axe' to grind over the cancellation of the sandwich? What was this guy thinking, even if they brought back the sandwich, he wouldn't be able to enjoy it because he'll be in the slammer. Maybe someone will sneak him one in…."

"Hn, I wonder if Yukina's bailed out the oaf yet." Hiei said to himself, a rare, wide grin playing across his lips.

Suddenly the rear wheels began to slip and Hiei let off the gas as he took a 50 mph turn at 45. Swearing intently, the black haired fought with himself and the wheel before finally wrenching the car back under control.

"Piece of two wheel drive crap. The sprite would have handled better than this." He hissed, slowly easing back on the gas, until the speedometer read forty.

"And now back to the best of the 80's, 90's and today." The DJ announced.

The beginning lyrics of Olivia Newton-John's – 'Physical' filled the car.

"Hnnn, someone hates me today." He said shaking his head back and forth in an attempt to clear the wicked thoughts as images of getting 'physical' with a certain red head filled his head.

He couldn't think about that right now, so turning off the radio, he then reached up to rub his sleep filled eyes, but his hand went quickly back to the wheel and he ended up yelling instead. "OOH SHhhhiiiT!!" Red eyes caught a glimpse of a dear standing literally yards in front of him. Quickly cutting the wheel, he feathered the gas, trying to coax the SUV to swerve away from the animal that stood there staring deadpan at the approaching lights. But as luck would have it, the front wheels refused to bite on the wet slick roads making him hiss. "Damn!!"

With his foot automatically mashing the brakes, the Liberty careened into the animal at nearly forty miles an hour. He heard wrenching metal as the animal flipped up on the hood and then the high pitch screeching as it slid towards the windshield.

With his brain playing out the scene in slow motion, his mind yelled. 'Duck Hiei.' But his body refused to move. He was frozen stiff, his hands gripping the steering wheel in a death grip.

Red eyes went wide as glass exploded everywhere, the windshield shattering into a million pieces from the force of the deer smashing through it to land in the passenger's seat. Hiei's arms came up two seconds too late as the airbag exploded in his face and he actually thought. 'Shouldn't that of went off earlier?' Seeing nothing but white, he was jolted forward as the car slammed into something, not realizing it was the guardrail.

_('Beep, Beep'-_noise)

"This is On-Star, we've registered an airbag deployment, are you okay Mr. Jaganshi… Mr. Jaganshi…I'm calling emergencies services…"

_('Ring, ring_'-noise) "911 dispatch…what is your emergency…"

"Yes, this is On-Star. We've registered an airbag deployment. I'm sending last known coordinates…"

_**(Present)**_

"If Yukina hadn't held me up for a few hours, I would have been done well before now." Kurama muttered, rubbing his tired eyes. He was done, his tale had been told. Looking at the name on the stone, he said. "Well dear friend…lover. I'm finished. I hope you didn't mind my ranting to much. I just needed to clear my conscious and make sure I had my facts straight. Though I doubt anyone will care." Bending over, he placed his forehead on the cold stone, closing his eyes as a finger traced the engraving…_'He…' _"I'm so tired."He muttered. "And I really hate to have to do this here…to you, but I don't think mother's going to be too pleased with me as it is." He started to cry. "Forgive me, but it's the only way I can think of to repent for my sins. I just wanted someone who, I knew, would understand and…I'm so tired of being alone."

The red head finally sat back up and picked up the item that had been laying in front of him the whole time he'd talked. His fingers were numb and it took him a moment to get a proper hold on it. It had been beautiful before the rain had ruined it. Hopefully it was only the outer shell that was damaged, the braiding had come undone and the charm was barely hanging on by a thread. He at least hoped the blade inside was still okay as he slid it from its scabbard.

What Kurama held in his hands was what the Japanese called a Tant­o, or in other words, a dagger. The red head had seen it amongst Hiei's items crammed on his bookcase at the beach house and one day, he'd asked about it. Hiei explained that it was a Tanto. A short sword, or dagger, which was used as a stabbing instrument by the samurai, it was kept in their obi and used when needed. They were usually seamless, nearly flat and were usually plain, lacking any real elaborate decoration. The one he had, however, had been made as a ceremonial sword, most likely given as a gift to a lord or higher official. Though this one was seamless between the handle and the blade, made of a black lacquered wood, it had a braided gold roping around the top, near the handle, holding a green jade dragon charm. The black haired went on to say that the blade was also used for seppuku or hara-kiri. A ritual suicide a samurai warrior would do if disgrace fell upon him. "It was one last way to try and save his honor." He'd said. This morning when Kurama had seen it on top of a box of stuff in Yukina's garage, he knew it would be useful for what he had in mind.

The red head had known what Hiei had been talking about that day, but it had been more intriguing to hear the black haired explain it. His deep voice was always soothing when he talked about something he was interested in. Hiei finished his story by saying the sensei had left him the Tanto in his will, the master had even attached a note to it telling his prize student. "Use this to protect your honor among the obstacles of life you encounter in your many journeys through it."

Kurama's face took on a grim look as he thought back to the memory. "I think it's a little too late to try and protect my honor." He said, moving to sit cross legged. He knew what he was about to do would send him straight to hell.

Getting nauseated as he picturied himself sticking the dagger in his stomach and trying to drag it back and forth, the red head knew he could never do it that way and decided his wrists would be the better choice.

Placing the now un-sheathed blade down and peeling off his drenched dress coat. He let the heavy fabric fall behind him as he rolled up his shirt sleeves. There were pros and cons to doing it this way he'd surmised as he finished and picked up the dagger. One pro was that his body was numb and really wouldn't feel a thing. The con was that he was cold and blood doesn't want to flow well when it's cold. That's why a warm hot bath was the best, blood pumped better. The only other pro he had going for him was that he'd already developed a mild case of hyperthermia and if he wasn't found until morning, or better yet, later tomorrow, it should work.

With his hand shaking, the red head placed the sharp edge of the blade to his left wrist. He would need to do it quickly so he could do the other one. He was also thinking maybe if he could just push the blade through his chest, over his heart, it might be better. He could always do it as a last resort if he was found before…well…you get the idea.

Taking a deep breath and trying to control his nerves, he said. "All things pass…this is the law…of birth and death. Once birth and death…likewise have passed, that peace is bliss...Kuronue…please give me strength." The blade made a cut and he watched the red liquid well up.

"Hn!"

Kurama paused, ignoring the sting in his arm. 'What was that?' He wondered, his mind racing. He knew he had talked to long. Knew he was going to be found before he could finish. When he didn't hear it again, he shook his head. The wind was picking up, the rain was starting again and he told himself. 'Must of been the wind.'

When he touched his skin with the blade again, his hand began to shake even more and he cursed himself. Getting a better grip on the handle, he was about to cut when he heard very clearly. "It would be such a waste of beauty, but…if you feel you must, you could at least give the Tanto the honor of using it correctly."

'That voice…it couldn't be.' The dagger almost fell out of his hand as Kurama's control slipped and he began to visibly shake. 'It can't be him. He's gone and he wouldn't know I was here anyways.' His mind tried to reason with him, telling him that he was just staling, but his heart was telling him to turn and look, just to make sure.

The red head turned slowly, his tired, swollen, green eyes blinking. It had just gotten dark and when they were able to focus, they saw an outline of a figure standing not eight feet back. Their arms were crossed as they stood there.

"Hi…ei." He managed to croak out.

The figure uncrossed their arms and held them out, like an angle offering comfort. Kurama moved, the dagger dropping to stick with its pointed tip straight down in the soft ground as he staggered to get to his feet, his body numb. His legs had that tingling sensation from having fallen asleep and he was just so tired, sore. Not knowing if this was a hallucination his delirious mind was trying to play on his physique or not. Though at this point, not caring either way, he forced himself to move. Who knows, maybe he had already completed his task and this was his reward, to see Hiei. 'This can't be right. You don't get rewarded in hell.' He thought.

Hiei couldn't get himself to move as the red head turned towards him. Seeing Kurama in this condition made his heart ache and yet scared him at the same time. 'What the hell has happened to you?' He wondered.

_**(My hands are searching for you…My arms are outstretched towards you…I feel you on my fingertips….My tongue dances behind my lips for you.)**_

Hearing his name said in an unsure, quivering voice got the black haired to at least open his arms. Kurama had to do this on his own. The red head needed to make the first move and he was doing it. Besides, seeing the way Kurama looked, like the walking dead at this moment, the short figure didn't think he could move even if he wanted to.

_**(This fire rising through my being…Burning I'm not used to seeing you.)**_

'If I hadn't gotten here when I did.' Hiei thought to himself, still watching the red head in his struggles to get to him. Even one more minute later and Kurama would have done it.

_**(I'm alive…I'm alive)**_

He had drove to Shori's grave first, thinking back to what Yukina had said about the way Kurama was acting. The black haired had shown up at the house to see his sister crying. She then rambled on about how Kurama had been acting strange and was worried he might do something stupid. She also rambled about a sword being gone. That she had gone to the garage, being nosey she admitted, and saw where something had been taken. When she realized it was one of his swords, she panicked. Thinking the red head was going to hurt himself or worse.

Hiei had turned around and jumped right back in the car, his sister's instincts were rarely wrong and he knew he needed to find the red head and fast. He headed to the only place he could think of, Shori's grave, and silently thanked god for having visited the site the last time he'd been in. When the headlights failed to show Kurama or anyone else near the site, he thought maybe he'd been wrong.

Getting out of the car, the black haired walked over to Shori's grave. Kneeling down, he touched the cold stone with his fingers. Closing his eyes, he found himself whispering. "Shori…where is your son?"

Red eyes then opened and scanned the vastness of other graves. It was like a light bulb going off in his head as a name and place came to mind in a flash. Not thinking, he began running, leaving the rental car as he headed down the path, barely visible now in the fading light. He didn't realize how far he had to go as he cleared that section and ran up through the trees to the next. When he saw an outline of a figure sitting on the ground, he slowed to a walk and approached cautiously, not wanting to scare the person. Getting within eight feet or so, he realized it was Kurama and recognized the item in his hand. His breath hitched at the thought of what the red head was about to do.

_**(I can feel you all around me…Thickening the air I'm breathing…Holding on to what I'm feeling…Savoring this heart that's healing.) **_

Red eyes blinked as they realized the red head was on his feet and within a few feet of him. Kurama took a few more staggering steps and raised his arms when he thought he could touch the being in front of him.

_**(My hands float up above me…And you whisper you love me…And I begin to fade…Into our secret place.)**_

"Kurama." Hiei whispered when the red head was within reach. Kurama fumbled the last few steps and then collapsed into the smaller figure's arms.

Hiei caught the man and managed to guide them to the ground without flopping to hard. The rain was falling harder now, making 'pitter-patter' noises on the nearby stones. With his head throbbing, not to mention his heart pounding in his chest like a sledgehammer. The black haired also listened to Kurama dry heave and choke on his tears. All of it had a sort of rhythm to it, in its own, morbid, twisted way.

_**(The music makes me sway…The angels singing say we are alone with you…I am alone and they are too with you.) **_

"What?" Hiei said, looking down at the figure he was holding.

Kurama swallowed and coughed before saying in a whisper again. "I didn't…didn't think…you'd come back."

_**(I'm alive…I'm alive)**_

"Hn." Hiei said, pulling the red head closer as he felt the body trembling and softly chuckling at his reply. "I just got a little sidetracked is all." He added.

_**(I can feel you all around me…Thickening the air I'm breathing…Holding on to what I'm feeling…Savoring this heart that's healing.)**_

Kurama pulled back and looked up to see a large, white, compression bandage on one side of the black haired's head. He brought up a pale, shaky hand to touch it lightly. The gauze was swelling with the rain, the tape was losing its stickiness, both causing it to slide to the side and he could see pink blotches here and there.

"You're hurt." Kurama whispered.

Hiei gave the red head a comforting squeeze. "It's just a scratch." He assured.

They sat there in silence as the rain continued to fall, each one exhausted. Lightning began to flash, followed by low roars of thunder. The ground vibrated as Kurama began to cry again and Hiei found himself letting go as well.

_**(And so I cry…The light is white…And I see you.)**_

They both sat there, letting it all out, knowing their ordeals were finally over.

_**(I'm alive…I'm alive…I'm alive)**_

"I'm sorry." Hiei whispered, brushing the red hair with his fingers as he began to rock back and forth. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry too." He heard Kurama mutter into his chest.

"I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere." Hiei whispered.

Kurama just nodded.

_**(I can feel you all around me…Thickening the air I'm breathing…Holding on to what I'm feeling…Savoring this heart that's healing.)**_

Hiei didn't know how long they sat there, only when he felt Kurama's body go limp, did he push the taller figure out, away from him.

"Kurama." He hissed, giving the body a light shake. Green eyes were closed. 'Damn.' He thought. 'Just hang on.' Seeing the blood oozing off the red head's arm, Hiei ripped his shirt and bandaged it. He'd had no idea Kurama had actually cut himself.

Making it to his own unstable feet, Hiei went to pickup the red head in a bridle style fashion, only to realize, he couldn't do it. His body was just too sore and weak from the accident, not to mention the running to get here.

Hiei ended up making a hard decision. He left Kurama and hurried back to his rental car. What seemed like forever, the red Rondo made its way up the hill and its high beams shown on the red head still laying on the ground.

Getting out, the black haired, again pulled on the taller figure. "Damn it Kurama!" He yelled. "Help me!"

_**(Take my hand…I give it to you…Now you own me…All I am…You said you would never leave me…I believe you…I believe.)**_

Kurama began to move, helping the smaller figure help him get up and move towards the car. Once the red head was settled in the passenger's seat, Hiei ran around and got in. Putting the car in gear, he then turned the heat on max before turning the car around to get out of the cemetery. As the car turned, the headlights shown over Kuronue's grave, the beams giving it an eerily, somber look to it as they glistened off the Tanto sticking out of the ground.

When they hit the main road, Kurama leaned over, placing his head on Hiei's lap.

"Thank you." He muttered.

Hiei took his right hand and laying it on the red head's shoulder, muttered. "Let's go home."

_**(I can feel you all around me…Thickening the air I'm breathing…Holding on to what I'm feeling…Savoring this heart that's healed.)**_

End Chapter 11

Lyrics to the song: _**All around me**_ – by: _Flyleaf_


	12. Chapter 12

This chapter is rated '**M**' – _need I say anymore…_

Chapter 12 - _Epilogue_

_**(One week later)**_

"I hope you guys are hungry." They heard from behind the swing hinged door.

Nine sets of eyes looked from the dinning room table towards the kitchen door. Eight of the sets of eyes had some look of doubt and/or worry. Maybe the better terms were trepidation and plain old dread. Only one set of eyes, red ones were calm and confidant.

"Here we go." Yukina said, stepping out of the kitchen. Held in her tiny hands was a large ceramic bowl filled high. Setting the bowl in the middle of the large dinning room table, all eyes peered over trying to get a look at its contents.

"Looks eatable." Yusuke muttered and immediately felt a jab to his ribs from under the table. Chocolate eyes turned to glare at his wife.

"Looks delicious." Keiko said aloud, placing a napkin on her lap.

"Yeah and if it's anything like what she's been cooking up this past week, it's going to taste better than it looks." Kuwabara said, grabbing the bowl and immediately placing heaping mounds of food on his plate.

"Hey big guy, you better save us some or I'll…" Yusuke began to threaten, but stopped short when he saw Keiko giving him 'the look.'

Seeing the look Keiko was giving her husband, Yukina assured. "Don't worry Yusuke, there is plenty in the kitchen and I can always whip up another batch. It's really not that hard."

The orange haired finally started passing the bowl around and when everyone had some on their plate, both Yukina and Hiei waited until everyone took a bite before starting in on theirs.

"Mmm(s)…wow(s)." And. "This is great mom." Was heard around the table.

"I'm glad everyone likes it." Yukina said with a smile and a wink to her brother. "I never realized my brother was such a great cook."

Yusuke swallowed before saying. "When it was his turn to cook at the Station, he never let us down. Even though he's a veggie, the stuff he made was pretty good and most of the time, he added meat just to please us and made himself something else."

"I think it's sweet that Hiei's been teaching Yukina how to cook." Keiko said.

"Here, here." Kuwabara cheered around a mouth full of food and held up his glass in a toast.

Blushing slightly, the black haired held up his glass. "It's no big deal. I've had nothing better to do this past week, might as well earn my rent."

They ate in silence, only breaking it when someone asked for more food, drink, or to pass the sauce.

Only when the kids finally asked to be excused and were gone from the room, did the 'adult' conversations begin. Shizuru was the first to go by asking. "So Hiei…how's the housing search going?"

Hiei placed his chopsticks down and took a drink before saying. "I'm still looking. There's not a lot out there…what there is, is expensive. I think I'm going to have to wait until I get a job before I finally decide on a place."

"I still don't understand why you don't just re-take the firefighter's training course and get yourself reinstate. For you, it would be a walk in the park." Yusuke said, taking another helping of food.

"I wouldn't mind having you back as a partner, partner." Kuwabara spoke up.

"That wouldn't be fair to Mitarai." Hiei said then shrugged. "And besides, I think it's time I moved on. I really don't know what I want to do just yet."

Red eyes looked to see green ones looking up at him through red bangs as Yukina said. "Brother never did stay at one job long. I think being an EMT was the longest he'd done anything." Looking to the red head beside her, she said. "Speaking of jobs…what are your plans Kurama?"

The red head looked up, somewhat stunned at being asked a question. Except for commenting on the food and asking for a few things, he hadn't spoken a complete sentence throughout the entire meal. When he had been asked by Hiei to come to dinner, the red head had accepted, thinking he at least owed Yukina an apology of sorts. But what Hiei had failed to mention was that the 'gang' would be there as well. Feeling a little uncomfortable around the large group, the red head swallowed before saying. "Um." He started. "Like Hiei, I um…I don't know what I want to do. I think I'm just going to enjoy the time off and when I get too bored…" He left the comment open by shrugging and taking a drink.

Kuwabara spoke up. "I hope you'll still come to Alaric's Friday night."

"Yeah Hiei." Yusuke interrupted. "The whole gang's going to try and be there. Chu…Mitarai, Touya and his new wife, Sensui...Mukuro and Yomi have been asking about you. And I don't know why, but I think the old man might put in an appearance." When chocolate eyes looked to the black haired, Hiei just nodded a 'we'll see' look at him.

Kurama felt a hand pat his knee under the table and turned his head towards Yukina. "You're more than welcome to come too Kurama." She said.

"Yeah…of course…and it'll be fun." Was heard around the table.

"Thank you." The red head muttered.

Changing the subject back, Shizuru said. "Like I've told you before, you can have the beach house back."

"That's okay." Hiei told her. "I think I'm done with the beach. You can rent it as long as you like and if you decide to buy it, we can work something out."

Shizuru started smiling as she tilted her head fondly at the black haired, saying. "The offer still stands to be my roommate."

Everyone chuckled but Hiei, who lowered his head and grumbled. "No thank you."

Seeing the man's discomfort, Shizuru couldn't help but add insult to injury. "Oh come on Hiei. What would be so bad about it? You'd have your room, I'd have mine. We could even have sleepovers. Me and the nurses…oh and Kurama too, we can do up each other's hair and we can paint each other's nails. I have black nail polish."

"That's just disgusting." Kuwabara said, his face matching the statement.

Hiei looked up at Kurama who was sitting across from him. The red head's head was down and he was picking at the remains of food on his plate. The black haired could barely see the light pink tint illuminating the pale face.

The moment was saved from any further comments by the kids bouncing back into the room.

"Dad…dad…guess what…dad…" The twins babbled.

"What?" Kuwabara asked.

"Raizen just learned how to use the Spirit Gun." They said as one.

"No way!" The orange haired said, tossing his napkin on the table as he pushed his chair back.

"Way!" Came out in stereo.

"That's my boy." Yusuke said as he too got up from the table.

"Daddy…daddy." Raizen yelled, running into the room and going straight to his dad.

"I heard…can you show me?" Yusuke asked and got a big smiling nod from his son.

"Uncle Yusuke." The twins said.

"Yeah." The raven haired acknowledged.

"Can you beat Dad's butt again?" Kaisei asked.

"Please." Fubuki pleaded.

"Hey!" Their dad exclaimed. "He got lucky…that's all."

"Yeah right." All three kids said sarcastically. "All thirty-seven times."

"Wouldn't want to disappoint the kids now would we." Yusuke said, looking to his long time friend.

"You're on Urameshi." Kuwabara said.

Leaving the others, the two started heading towards the den, the kids right on their heels. "You think you're so tough Urameshi, well I'll show you what the 'soldier of love' can do." The orange haired praised, pointing a thumb at his chest.

"In your dreams." Yusuke smirked, patting him on the back.

"You're just full of it." Kuwabara said as he grabbed the controllers and handed one over to the raven haired.

Yusuke scratched the back of his head. "Okay 'soldier of love', how's this, in addition to your Spirit Sword, I'll spot you the Vine Whip."

"That's not fair!" The orange haired exclaimed.

The raven haired cocked his head. "Why not?"

"That means you'll take the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. That's the highest level spirit ability in the whole game, nothing can beat it." Kuwabara whined.

"You blockhead. I'm not going to use the Dragon…I can kick your ass with just the Spirit Gun." Yusuke scolded.

"There's no way you can beat me with just the gun." Kuwabara said as he started up the game and flopped on the floor.

Yusuke sat down cross legged beside his friend. "You keep telling yourself that." He said.

"You're going down."

"Whatever." Chocolate eyes rolled.

a)a)a)a

Back in the dinning room everyone was staring down the hall and shaking their heads as they heard the two bickering.

Kurama stood up with his plate. "I'll help you with the dishes." He said, looking down at Yukina.

"Oh…that's alright." Keiko said, jumping up from her chair. "I can help her."

"Just let me go out back and have a quick smoke and I'll pitch in." Shizuru also offered.

Yukina looked at her brother then to Kurama. "Why don't you two 'men' go join the children in the den." She said.

When the women left the room, the two remaining looked at each other. "I don't know about you." Hiei said. "But I'm not in the mood to listen to two grown men whine, bitch and complain about some stupid game."

The remark had the effect he wanted, Kurama smiled. "I agree."

Hiei stood up and headed out of the room. With the red head following, the two made their way out onto the front porch. The evening was unusually warm and the sky was clear.

Hiei took a seat on the swing, but Kurama didn't sit. He instead walked over to the railing and looked out at the neighborhood.

"I'm sorry." Hiei said, breaking the moment of silence.

Green eyes looked backed in confusion.

"For not telling you the rest of them would be here?" Hiei said, he had noticed how uncomfortable the red head was.

"It's okay." Kurama said, staring back out at the yard.

"Are you okay?" Hiei asked.

The red head nodded then sighed, saying softly. "You want to come over and watch a movie or something?"

Hiei lowered his head, even though he wasn't being looked at and said softly. "Not tonight."

Again, Kurama just nodded. Hiei hadn't been staying much at the loft. After 'that night', when Hiei had basically saved his life, the black haired had been pretty much keeping his distance. He had stayed around the clock for two days, sleeping on the couch at night. But after that, he had started to leave for most of the day, only returning to check on him and then leave again and he had stopped staying nights.

With that annoying awkward silence closing in, Kurama was the first to break it by pushing off the railing and saying. "I should go…please tell Yukina thank you for the dinner." He didn't wait for Hiei to speak as he cleared the porch and headed to the Z, which was parked at the curb.

Red eyes watched as the red head got in his car and drove away. Letting out a depressive sigh, the black haired got up and entered the house. Hearing raucous noises coming from the back, Hiei headed towards the spare bedroom where he had been staying.

He didn't know how long he'd sat there contemplating his life when he heard Yukina at the door. "Oh there you are." She said, leaning on the door frame. "Where's Kurama?" She asked when she didn't see him in the room.

Hiei turned, looking up from where he was sitting on the edge of the bed near the window. His back had been towards the door. "He went home." He said. "He told me to tell you 'thank you' and…"

"He's more than welcomed." Yukina said, stepping in. When her brother turned more towards her, she saw he was holding something. "Thinking of mother?" She asked, taking a seat next to him.

Hiei closed the lid on a small box in his hand. "Sort of." He said.

Yukina reached out with her small hand and embraced her brother's other, just as petite, hand. "Hiei." She said softy. "What's wrong?"

Hiei sighed and rubbing the velvet box in his hand, answered. "Do you think if mother was still alive…she'd be…disappointed in me?" He asked back.

Yukina gasped. "What makes you ask that?"

Hiei took a deep breath before saying. "Do you think she would have approved of me being…?" He paused. He knew he could talk to his sister about anything, but it was still hard for him to open up.

"Gay." She finished for him.

She received a nod.

"Brother." She said, squeezing the hand she was still holding. "I think mother would have been more than proud of her son. I know our aunt didn't talk to you much about mother, but she did with me and mother was so happy to have us. I don't think that would have changed as we grew up. But…do you want to know what I think?" She said, pausing.

Hiei looked at her and she continued. "I think she would have wanted us to be happy no matter what and I think deep down…so did our aunt."

"I'm glad you can think that." Hiei muttered.

Yukina smiled. "Why do I get the feeling that box has something more to do with what's been bothering you than what you think our mother and aunt's opinions would have been?"

Her brother had never cared for the item he held in his hand. He'd left it with her all these years and she'd been quite surprised the day he'd asked to have it back, which was just a few days ago.

Watching her brother still fingering the box, she broke the quietness and said. "I think I know what's bothering you."

Hiei's eyes widened as he looked at her. Cocking his head, he went to say. "You…"

Yukina stopped him by placing a finger to his lips. "I know you have a hard time expressing yourself, but I am your twin and I never tried to tell you why things happen the way they do, but Hiei…if it feels right…go to him."

"But…"

"At." She warned, tapping her finger that was still on his lips. "I'm not done. Did you know the day I first saw you with Kurama, at the annual picnic…I knew he was different…and that he made you different. I saw you open up and I could not have been more happier the moment I realized you were finally happy. I know you might be upset with him for what he tried to do."

Hiei pulled her finger away from his face and quickly said. "No, I'm not upset with him about that."

"Then what else…" She said, not understanding.

Hiei whispered so softly that Yukina leaned forward to hear. "What if he's upset with me for leaving?"

"Oh brother." She said, shaking her head. "You're being silly."

"I'm…" Hiei went to object.

"I see the way he looks at you." She said. "And my guess is he's thinking you're rejecting him for what's transpired. Think about it, if he was upset with you, why come to dinner."

Hiei found himself getting angry at that statement. "He should be mad at me. I'm the one that left…I was the one that walked out…not thinking twice and assuming things that…"

"Go to him." Yukina said as she stood. "You two need to talk and whatever happens… happens." She shrugged. "But you can't deny it anymore. I see the way you light up when you tell me you're going to go check on him and I see the disappointment on your face when you come home."

Hiei was nodding his head, silently agreeing with everything his sister said. "But how…" He went to say, but paused.

"How what?" She asked, looking down at him.

Hiei's face contorted as he thought of how to ask what he'd been feeling this past week. "How…when…" He tried again, only to let out a frustrating growl.

Yukina tried to hold her smile, knowing this was hard on her brother, but seeing him get all flustered was kind of cute. Sitting back down on the bed, she took her hand and cupped his chin, making him look at her.

"How did I know Kazuma was the one?" She said softly.

Hiei's red eyes went wide and he slightly nodded as he realized she knew what he was trying to ask.

"You just feel it." She said. "I had dated some really nice boys and men, but I didn't have that 'feeling' with them as I did when I met Kazuma. Again, I can't tell you why things happen the way they do, but Hiei…if your heart." She placed a hand over his heart. "Is giving you that feeling…follow it. It will take you where you need to be."

She smiled at the look she was getting from him. "Go…I have a feeling things are going to work out and my instincts have yet to let me down." She was still smiling as she went to the door. "Oh…and one more thing." She added, turning back. "I won't wait up."

She let out a giggle as a decorative pillow almost hit her.

a)a)a)a

Kurama looked up as the sound of a knock was heard on his front door. Placing the newspaper he'd been reading down. (The headline read: **Mr. Karasu facing jail for tax evasion**) He made his way to the door and opening it, green eyes widen in surprised at seeing Hiei standing there. "Did you forget your key?" He asked, opening the door wider to allow the smaller figure to step in.

"No." Was all Hiei said as he stepped in and took off his coat, he then walked over to the dinning room table and laid it across a chair.

"Oh." The red head said, following. He was just slightly confused as to why the black haired hadn't keyed in like always. "I thought you weren't coming over tonight."

"I couldn't take anymore of the two buffoons yelling at each other and the 'girls' gossiping." Hiei said, still standing near the table. "Besides." He added. "I didn't get a chance to look at your arm."

Kurama gave a nod and looked at his still bandaged left forearm. He had changed out of his long sleeve dress shirt and jeans when he got home and was now wearing only pajama bottoms.

The red head took a seat at the table as Hiei stepped into the bathroom, coming out a few minutes later with supplies. The black haired took a seat beside the red head and began un-wrapping the white gauze that had been lightly wrapped the arm.

Hiei had been meticulous if not down right anal about Kurama's cut. The black haired wanted to make absolutely sure the scar was kept to a minimalist line as possible.

"Does it itch?" Hiei asked, using a cotton ball wet with peroxide to dab at the remaining pieces of scab tissue.

"Sometimes." Kurama said softly, just watching.

"Try not to scratch it." Hiei said, grabbing another roll of gauze and wrapping a light layer around the arm. "Let the scabbing come off naturally and keep it wrapped so your shirts won't tear at them. A scar can be made worse if it's allowed to bust open and bleed."

Kurama nodded as Hiei placed a few pieces of tape over it. When he was done, he went to wash his hands. The red head sat there and held his arm to his chest, lightly cupping it to make sure the tape was sticking.

"So." Hiei said, coming back over. "What movie did you have in mind?"

The red head looked up at him. "Um, whatever you want to watch is fine with me." He said.

Hiei went over to the TV stand, which was at the foot of the bed, and began pulling out DVDs. "Hn." He said, shuffling the selection. "We've seen all of these."

"Sorry." Kurama said, coming over to join the black haired. "I haven't picked up anything in awhile." He looked at the clock. "But there's still time before the stores close. I can go out and get something." He offered as a way of an apology.

"No…that's okay." Hiei said, taking a seat on the end of the bed. "I don't think I'm in the mood for a movie anyways."

Kurama also took a seat, saying. "Well, we could play Mahjong…I have my set."

"No...not in the mood for that either." Hiei said, scooting back onto the bed so he could place his back against the headboard.

Kurama stayed where he was, his back facing the smaller figure.

Nothing was said for a few minutes until Hiei heard Kurama sigh. "Something wrong?" He asked the red head.

"Ah…no." The red head said. "I'm sorry, I can't think of anything else to do." He added and went to turn to face the black haired. However, what he didn't expect when he turned was to be hit with a pillow in the chest.

"I think I just thought of something." Hiei said, actually laughing at the stunned look he received from the red head.

"Did you." Kurama said, smiling back. "You're going to get it." He smirked and dove for the other large pillow on the bed.

The two battled it out, each getting in some lucky hits, until both started breathing heavy as they tired and began slowing down in their attempts to make contact.

Right when Hiei was about to call a truce, Kurama managed to lob a good hit to the side of his head and he fell over. The pillow in his hands dropped to cover his face as he hit the bed.

Kurama was laughing so hard his sides were hurting and he sat back taking in deep breaths. When he looked and saw that the black haired wasn't moving, he tossed his pillow to the side. "Hiei." He said, moving closer to the still prone figure. "Hiei." He said again and removed the pillow covering the smaller man's face. The red head saw closed red eyes and calm breathing.

Kurama leaned over so he was face to face with the man, but just when he was about to say his name again, the black haired's eyes opened and he pounced.

The red head gasped and went to move away, only to be grabbed around the waist and tackled to the bed. Hiei then quickly straddled his legs while pinning his arms to either side of his head.

Kurama went slack as Hiei made sure not to put to much presser on his cut arm.

"You cheater…playing possum." Kurama chuckled. Letting out a breath, he surrendered. "Okay…uncle."

"You surrender." Hiei said, leaning in closer so they could feel each others breath. He watched the red head gulp and nod. "Then I get to claim my prize." He whispered.

The red head let out a gasp breath. "Oh…and what…would that be?" He whispered.

"You." Hiei said and began plundering the red head's mouth.

Kurama let out a moan and managed to get his hands free, which he used to rub up and down the black haired's back before moving them to the front. He began pulling and tugging on the blue tank top, trying to get it loose from the pants. It soon complied and was slipped off.

Hiei was grinding his frame into the taller one and getting the response he wanted. Letting his body take control for the moment, he ravished the red head, trying to turn him to putty.

The red head began grinding his hips upward, trying to return the gesture. When Hiei moved to kiss along his neck, he allowed access and arched his back, letting the man have his way. It had been so long and he'd been afraid to make a move on Hiei this past week, but with the black haired making the first move, he was going to let him do whatever he wanted.

Hiei pulled back so they could breathe. Seeing green eyes full of lust and those pale pink lips swollen, not to mention hearing the light panting coming from them made the black haired sit back on his heels. Red eyes blinked in the red hair laid out like a halo around the pale features.

"Missed you." Kurama whispered bringing up a hand to play along the black haired's now bare chest.

Hiei scooted back. "I…" He tried to say, but shook his head and moved so he was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Hiei, what's wrong?" Kurama asked in concern, sitting up and moving to the edge of the bed.

"I can't do this to myself anymore." Hiei said softly. Before Kurama could ask, he turned to look at him and said. "I can't do this to 'you' anymore."

"What." Kurama said, shaking his head. "What can't you do?" There was concern, along with fear, clearly evident in his voice and on his face.

Hiei sighed and began rambling. "Maybe I wasn't ready…maybe I was afraid of giving you a chance. I don't know…I just." He took a deep breath and looked the red head right in the face. "Kurama…somewhere in the middle of all this, I fell in love with you….I'm saying 'I love you'. I'm saying it out loud." He twisted so he was facing the red head and brought a hand up to caress the pale face. "I didn't realize how much I cared about you until you weren't around and the fact that I did what I did to get back to you." He ran a finger down the bandaged arm. "If something would have happened to you…I don't…I don't know what I would have done and I know this is going to be hard…but it can't be any harder to stay together than it was apart."

Kurama was sitting there blank faced, except for his eyes, which kept getting wider by the second. He didn't know what to think about Hiei's declaration to him, but he did know that he was about to cry and his lips started quivering.

Seeing the reaction he was getting, Hiei leaned in closer to the pale lips, whispering. "Kurama." He flicked out his tongue licking the now quivering bottom lip. "I finally realized…I 'need you'." He finished and without even giving the red head a chance to respond, locked lips with him.

Kurama's hands came up and grabbed the smaller figure, wanting to hold on for dear life.

The two broke apart and Hiei stood, saying. "I have something for you, close your eyes."

Green eyes blinked and the red head shook his head, this was too much, things were happening just a little too fast here.

Hiei brought his hands up and brushed the tears away with his thumbs which got Kurama to close his eyes. The black haired then walked over to his coat and pulled something out of one of the pockets. Looking back over towards the red head, he could see the man trembling ever so slightly. "Are your eyes still closed?" He asked, grabbing another item before walking back over.

The red head nodded.

"I think you were peeking." Hiei said softly and placed a hand on Kurama's back. This had the effect he wanted, the red head jumped and green eyes flew open as he hadn't expected the touch.

Before Kurama could recover from the action, Hiei quickly wrapped a white scarf around his large green eyes.

"Hiei." Kurama gasped, his hands coming up.

"Shhh…" Hiei assured, making sure the scarf was secured and then gently pushing Kurama's hands away from his face. "I don't want you peeking." He said softly and gave a light kiss to the slightly parted lips.

Hiei stepped back and opened the black velvet box he had been pondering earlier at Yukina's. Taking the item out, he unhooked it and leaning forward, re-hooked it around the red head's neck. He didn't miss the gasp he got as his hands lightly brushed against the pale chest.

Leaning back, Hiei looked at the red head and his heart skipped a beat as his red eyes roamed up the tone, pale flash. He found himself licking his lips at what he saw and for what he felt in his groin. Kurama's lips were slightly parted and they quivered as he breathed through his mouth. Seeing the red head's Adam's apple move when he swallowed made the black haired bite his bottom lip. The red head had not moved and he could see the restraint it took for the man to try not to until he was told.

"Hiei." He heard, with a little tinge of fear and he watched as goose bumps began to appear on the lean frame making him tremble.

Hiei smirked and brought a finger up to play with a lock of red hair, but first he brushed it along a nipple and received a sharp intake of breath. Twirling a piece of hair around his finger, he took in the texture, the softness, the smell, while his other hand toyed with a nipple.

Kurama stiffened, gasped and then shuddered, not knowing the touches were coming. Hiei leaned in as the red head tilted his head into his hand.

When Kurama brought his hands up to remove the scarf again, he heard Hiei whisper. "Leave it." And felt his wrists grabbed. His arms were placed behind him and he let out a surprised cry as he was pushed back onto the bed with his legs still dangling off.

Hiei began kissing, licking and nibbling on the pale flesh, working his way down to the top of the pajama bottoms. There he pulled the elastic band with his teeth and let it go, making the red head jump as it snapped back.

Hiei squatted down and he heard Kurama whisper. "Please Hiei." The black haired could tell the red head was just as aroused as he was as he pulled the fabric down the tone pale legs, exposing him. Kissing up a thigh back to the flat stomach, the black haired twirled his tongue around the red head's bellybutton, dipping it in. He then gave a 'raspberry', making the taller figure yelp and laugh.

"Sttt…oop." Kurama whined, laughing and managing to get his arms free which he then used to try and stop the man.

'Oh how I've missed that laugh.' Hiei thought, smirking. Keeping his eyes on the red head as he continued to tickle, his other hand reached over to the night stand drawer to slide it open and get the lube that was usually kept there. As he fumbled for it, his hand felt something else. Pulling the item out, his eyes widened at what it was. Looking to the red head on the bed and back to the item, the black haired felt a ping of guilt, but he couldn't blame the man. He knew he had been lonely all these months, but he could never begin to imagine what the red head had gone through. Losing him and his mother, not to mention what he put himself through to…he shook his head, clearing the thoughts. That was the past and now was not the time. He was here, this was now, and he was going to do everything in his power to make it right. Quickly taking a look in the drawer, he found the lube.

Thinking this could be fun, Hiei climbed on top of the red head and pinning his arms to his side, settled over the small waist, leaving his weight on his heels. "So…tell me." He whispered as he opened the tube and put a dollop in his hand, which he then began rubbing on the item.

"Wh...at." Kurama managed to gulp out.

Hiei scooted down and used his knees to spread the red head's legs apart. Kurama bent them up some, anticipating what was going to happen.

The black haired placed a lube finger at Kurama's entrance and began rubbing it around, teasing the area, before continuing. "Were you celibate while I was gone?" He asked.

"Ah!" Kurama cried out, arching his back as the finger penetrated and his hands began kneading the bed sheets like a cat.

Hiei fumbled with his pants one handed, not wanting to stop his torture of the man he had come to see as his elixir…his tonic of life. Realizing now, without a doubt, that he wanted, no 'needed' the red head in his life or he would cease to exist. He'd never wanted to marauder someone so much as he did the red head at this very moment.

Kurama's panting quickened as Hiei worked his finger, but he received a cry of frustration when he pulled it out.

Taking the now lubed item, Hiei placed it near the red head's entrance and said. "You didn't answer my question."

"Ha...ah…Hi...ei…pl…please…I…" Kurama spewed. He was writhing on the bed so much. Hiei had to place a firm hand on his pelvis to get him to stay still.

Deciding the red head needed more torture. Hiei managed to get some more gel on his hand and began rubbing it on Kurama's erection. Pumping him, he used his elbows to keep the long legs apart even though they tried to close. The red head's hands were moving all over the place, grabbing him one minute, the bed the next. "Was there anyone…or 'anything' else that had your attention while I was gone?" He asked, his hand pumping harder.

The hand working his erection sent the red head over the edge. Not being able to see was only adding to his already overwhelmed senses. "No one!" Kurama finally cried out.

"Are you sure?"

Kurama was almost in tears. "Yes…yes…I only thought of you." He began to sob.

Hiei took pity and began placing the dildo, making Kurama cry out and his hands clench the sheets, turning his knuckles white. All the while the red head was trying to close his legs as his body began trembling even harder.

Red eyes sparkled at the red head's predicament. "Relax." Hiei cooed, kissing and massaging the pale thighs, trying to get him to relax around the slicked rubber going in his rear.

"I…um…ah…gods…" Kurama spewed, panting and squirming, but managing to relax some as the dildo slid into place and he got use to the feel.

"I think I'm jealous." Hiei smirked, seeing the reaction the exploit had on the man. The black haired retook his position on top of the red head.

Kurama's hand came up to remove the scarf and this time Hiei didn't stop him. When he managed to focus, green eyes gazed into red ones and he leaned up, bringing his hands up to pull the black haired towards him. Giving the smaller figure a chased kiss, the red head pulled back and managed to smirk. "It's nothing like the real thing."

"I hope not." Hiei grumbled and received a laughed. Before Kurama could react, or even know what was going to happen next. The black haired started the vibrator and then quickly, but steadily, lowered himself on the red head's ridged shaft.

"HIEI!" Kurama cried out, his hands going to the tiny waist. With the vibrator on and the small figure impaled on his shaft, he just about lost it. He never imaged experiencing both feelings at the same time. Squeezing his eyes shut, the red head found his brain and body going into an emotional, sensational overload and he began crying out his pleasure.

Moving in sync, the two set a pace, with moans, groans, pants and even grunts filling the room. It wasn't long until Hiei was pumping himself in time with their thrust.

Hiei grunted out his release and leaned forward, placing his hands for balance as Kurama continued to thrust. After a minute the red head let out a harsh cry and began pushing with his feet, squirming his way across the bed.

"Kurama." Hiei said, slipping off and trying to get the red head to stop. The red head was still in need of release and the black haired grabbed his cock, pumping. His orgasm had been intense, but the red head was on the verge of going into convulsions as he finally released.

Seeing Kurama trying to reach between his legs made him realize the dildo was still in place. "T…rn…ah…off….toooo…ah…mmm." The red head begged.

Hiei got it turned off and saw the taller figure relax some, but he was still panting and gulping for air. The black haired brushed red locks away from his face and kissed his forehead.

After a few minutes, Kurama went to try and remove the device, but his hands were shaking so much, it was making it harder than it should have been.

"Let me." Hiei said, getting his hand on the device. Using his other hand to massage the area, he got the red head to relax more and removed it, placing it on the floor to be cleaned later.

Kurama's emotions were already on overload and now that his body was just as overexerted, he broke and began to cry. His leg muscles were twitching and his body was numb, but he was starting to come down from the euphoria.

Rushing to the bathroom, Hiei came back with a cold washcloth. "You alright?" He said, moving to hold the man, trying to stop the shaking. He rocked as he brushed the red haired's forehead and face with the cool rag then kissed wet green eyes before cleaning the rest of him.

"Fi…fine." Kurama managed to get out. "Just a…circuit overload." He chuckled.

"Hn." Hiei said. "I think I should do that to you again sometime." He stated as he moved to sit against the headboard. "Only next time, I think I'll tie your hands above your head." He added with a smug smile.

Kurama just glared at him.

"What?" Hiei said, trying to sound and look innocent. "I think I could get used to you being helpless and writhing in pleasure."

Kurama looked like he was about to cry again. He'd forgotten all about the dildo and felt a little ashamed that Hiei found it when he did. But could anyone blame him, he'd been lonely, his heart was broken and it had ached for the black haired. And for what it was worth, it's not like he'd had the time to try and start a new relationship.

Seeing Kurama's sad look, Hiei motioned him over. "Come here." The black haired whispered, managing to pull the red head to him and hold him as he continued to calm down.

The two laid there for quite sometime until Kurama's hand came up to touch his chest, remembering the item that had been placed there earlier. "Oh…what was it…?" He asked, looking at the item. "Where." He ended up gasping as he studied the small, white pearl, about the diameter of a dime. It was set on a silver pin that was twisted on top to hold the ball in place. The pearl was not on a normal chain made of gold or silver, but of a black nylon cording.

"They were to be given to us by our mother." Hiei said softly, fingering the pearl and admiring how it looked against the pale chest.

"They." Kurama said, looking up.

"My mother found the pearls and made necklaces for us…one for me and one for Yukina. They're called tear gems. They're supposed to bring good luck and happiness to whomever wears it." Hiei informed.

"But why…?" The red head went to ask.

Hiei shrugged, saying. "I thought it would look good on you…and it does. I don't like wearing jewelry because I'm afraid it will get lost or damaged with the work I do."

"I'll never take it off." Kurama said and leaned in for a kiss.

Hiei settled down and motioned for the red head to lay with him. "Let's get some sleep."

They settled in, but just before Hiei fell asleep, he heard Kurama say.

"Hiei."

"Yeah." He said.

"I love you too." He heard the red head state.

"Hn." Hiei smirked, giving the body next to him a squeeze. "Just remember who said it first."

_**(Friday night at Alaric's)**_

The gang was all there and the place was hopping as the music blared and people talked. Hiei and Kurama had shown up late, but managed to do the rounds and be polite.

After a few hours, they decided to leave, both wanting to get away from the large crowd. As the two hit the door however, they were greeted by Raizen, the former Fire Chief.

"Well, looks like I got here just in time." He said, seeing the black haired stepping out.

"Chief Raizen." Hiei greeted holding the door for Kurama to step out and then politely holding the door open for the man.

Raizen went to step in, but stopped as he came alongside Hiei. "Please, just Raizen, that title belongs to my son now." He said. "How about I buy you a drink?" He offered.

"No thank you sir. We were just leaving." Hiei said.

"Oh." Raizen said and turned to Kurama who was standing there waiting. "Hello…you must be Hiei's partner, Kurama right. I've heard so much about you from my son." He said to the red head and held out his hand.

Kurama's eyebrows went up as he nodded and shook the hand, a light blush coming to his cheek at the thought of Yusuke talking about him to this man.

Turning his attention back to Hiei, Raizen said. "I just need a moment of your time." He turned back to Kurama. "And you are more than welcomed to join us." He offered.

Both men looked at each other and then nodded.

"Good." Raizen said and went to hold the door open for the two. "Shall we."

The three made there way towards the back and to a table where Yusuke was sitting. "Hey…old man…you…you made it." The raven haired slurred. Yusuke was already slightly drunk, but he managed to stagger to his feet, almost tripping as he gave his 'old man' a hug.

"Son." Raizen said, returning the gesture. "Mind if I use your table. I have something to discuss with Hiei."

Yusuke looked at the black haired like he just now noticed the smaller figure was there. "Hey hot-shot." The raven haired said. Chocolate eyes looked to Kurama. "Hey 'Rama, you two came back." His eyes then seem to see Keiko over at the bar. "Oh sh…crap… Keiko's giving me that look." He muttered and ignoring the three, headed over to his wife.

Shaking their heads, the men took a seat and Raizen got right down to business.

"About a month ago I got an offer from Home Land Security." He began and then thanked Mukuro as she set down two sodas and a beer, knowing two of the three didn't drink alcohol.

Hiei took a sip, not understanding why he was being told this.

Raizen took a draw off his beer before continuing. "I've been asked to head up a team…a terrorist response team of sorts."

"Congratulations sir." Hiei said, still not understanding why he was being told this.

Raizen smiled. "The thing is." He said. "I'm getting to old to train and keep up with you young bloods. I'm looking for someone who has the stamina, the experience and the training to do it."

Hiei's eyebrows rose and Kurama just stared at him from across the table.

Seeing the look, Raizen chuckled. "I hear you're looking for a job…so how about it. You think you can train and handle a bunch of new recruits. Plus be their captain."

"I don't know." Hiei said softly. "I'll need to think about it."

"You'd get to set your own hours, no weekends, no night shifts...unless we get attacked or there is a threat and then you'll be working your ass off." Raizen said then leaned over towards the black haired. "But between you and me, I don't see anything happening in the near future." He whispered with a nod and a grin.

"Thank you for thinking about me." Hiei said. "But if I get to be in charge, what would you be doing?"

Raizen chuckled at the bluntness of the question. "Why, the paperwork of course…that's all I'm good for nowadays and of course handling meetings with the government big wigs about the budget."

There was a moment of silence.

"Okay my boy…I can see you need time to think and talk this over, so…" Raizen said standing and breaking the silence. "You think about it and let me know, but don't take to long. The government wants to get this ball rolling as soon as a budget gets confirmed." He slapped the smaller figure on the back and gave a nod to the red head. "You two have a good evening.

After the man was out of earshot, Kurama said. "I think you should accept it."

"Are you sure?" Hiei said. "I know how you worried when I was working as an EMT."

The red head shrugged. "I will always worry about you, but he said that you can set your own hours and you would just be training unless a real emergency comes along."

"Are you sure?" Hiei asked one more time.

"I'm sure." Kurama smiled.

"Okay, but if I take this job then you have to take the offer to head up your mother's foundation." Hiei countered. He'd heard the red head on the phone the other day talking to his former boss about how no one had been found yet to head up and run the foundation.

"Hiei." The red head sighed. "That's a lot of work."

"That's why you delegate it." Hiei said.

"But if it's not done right than it's even more work to fix…" Kurama began to whine. "I thought you didn't like all the hours I worked."

"Hn." Hiei said, cutting him off. "That's why you hire the best."

Thinking about it, Kurama finally said. "I can't make any promises, but I'll try if you do." Adding a nod and a smile.

"Deal." Hiei said, giving his own nod.

"I guess this calls for a 'congratulations'." The red head said, holding up his drink in a toast.

"To you too." The black haired said, returning the toast. "Now that I have a job, I guess all that's left is to find a place to live." He then muttered. "I don't know how much longer I can stay sane at Yukina's."

"Um…I've been thinking about that." Kurama said, sitting his drink down.

A black eyebrow went up in curiosity. "Oh." Hiei said.

Suddenly becoming a little nervous, the red head placed his hands between his knees before saying. "How about…you move in…with me."

Hiei sat his glass down and began rubbing a finger along the rim, thinking. "I don't know…there maybe one small problem with me doing that." He said, sounding serious.

The red head just looked at the man. There was now a hint of confusion mixing with the nervousness in his green orbs as Kurama thought about what the problem could be. "Like…what?" He managed to get out.

"If I move in…" The black haired smirked, looking at him. "I may never leave."

Kurama smiled, his face relaxing. "Would that be such a bad thing?" He smirked back.

"I don't know." Hiei muttered, leaning in. "I'll have to think about it and get back to you."

"You do that." The red head whispered, leaning in as well.

The two kissed, oblivious to the world around them.

End Chapter 12

_**The End**_

This story continues in _**"And a HERO Takes a Fall"**_


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